Leapfrog Geo

Fundamentals
For Leapfrog Geo version 4.4
© 2018 Seequent Limited (“Seequent”). All rights reserved. Unauthorised use, reproduction, or disclosure is
prohibited. Seequent assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. LEAPFROG, SEEQUENT and
are trade marks owned by Seequent. All other product and company names are trade marks or registered trade
marks of their respective holders. Use of these trade marks in this document does not imply any ownership of these
trade marks or any affiliation or endorsement by the holders of these trade marks.
Session 1: Technical Specifications
Contents
System Requirements 1
Graphics Cards and Drivers 1
Updating Graphics Card Drivers 2
Switching the In-Use Graphics Card 4
Verifying the Updates 5

Goals
In this session, we will cover:
l Leapfrog Geo system requirements
l Switching the graphics card in use by Leapfrog Geo
l Updating graphics card drivers
Watch the video
l Graphics Cards and Drivers - 5:14 Video

System Requirements
To get the most out of Leapfrog Geo, it is highly recommended that you use a computer with at least the
minimum requirements. To review the System Requirements, click here.

Graphics Cards and Drivers

Many laptop computers come with two graphics cards: a lower-powered Intel card built into the CPU and
a more powerful dedicated graphics card (a GPU). To save power, often the laptop’s default setting is to
run programs using the slower Intel graphics card. However, graphics cards and drivers are very
important to Leapfrog’s performance. If you have a dedicated card, e.g.NVIDIA or AMD, you should be
using it. It’s also important to have the most up-to-date drivers to make the most of your card’s graphical
capabilities.

Checking System Info

1. To determine which graphics card(s) your computer has, click on the Leapfrog Geo menu button in the
top left corner of the application.
2. From the dropdown menu, select About.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

2 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Click on the System Info tab.

Graphics in use by Leapfrog Geo- currently using the lower powered Intel card.
All available graphics hardware - There are two cards available (the Intel card and the NVIDIA
Quadro M2000M). Note that some computers only have one card, in which case only one will be
listed.
Driver date

Updating Graphics Card Drivers

Leapfrog Geo tries to utilise the latest graphics technology and will perform best if the drivers are fully up-
to-date; however, most system settings rely on the user to update the graphics card drivers when an
update is released. If your graphics card drivers are out of date, it is recommended that they be updated
prior to switching the graphics card in use by Leapfrog Geo.

Updating an NVIDIA Graphic Card

The latest NVIDIA graphics card drivers can be found on their their website
(http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx). Option 1 allows you to search for the card name that is
shown in the Leapfrog Geo System Info window, and is the most reliable way to find the latest driver.
Option 2 is an automatic search for the best driver.
1. For Option 1, use the information provided in the Leapfrog System Info window.
2. Set the “Download Type” to be “ODE Graphics Driver”.
3. Click Search to find the latest driver.

If you’re running Leapfrog Geo on a laptop, be sure to select the “Product Series” to be “..... Series
(Notebooks)”.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Updating an Intel Graphics Card | 3

4. If the Release Date of the resulting driver is later than the one you’re currently using, click Download.

Make sure that Leapfrog (and any other programs that utilise the driver) are closed before installing it.

5. Click the file to run and install it.

Updating an Intel Graphics Card

Intel graphics drivers can be updated by installing the Intel Driver & Support Assistance (Intel DSA). This is
the easiest way to find driver updates for your computer. It can be installed from the Intel Intel website
(https://downloadcenter.intel.com/), where you can also search for a specific driver, if you wish.
Restarting the computer will be required for the update to take effect.

It is important to update your Intel Graphics Card driver as well, even if you’re primarily using your
dedicated (NVIDIA, AMD, etc.) card as Leapfrog Geo still utilises it to run background processes.

Updating AMD Cards

In addition to NVIDIA and Intel cards, AMD cards also meet Leapfrog Geo‘s system requirements. If you
have an AMD card, visit the AMD website (http://support.amd.com/en-us/download) for driver updates.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

4 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Again, you have the option to either automatically detect and install your driver, or manually select your
driver.

Switching the In-Use Graphics Card

If you have more than one graphics card, ensure you are using the dedicated graphics (NVIDIA, AMD) card
to get the most out of Leapfrog Geo. This manual will demonstrate how to switch to an NVIDIA card. This
process is possible for other brands of graphics cards, but the steps may be slightly different. Instructions
for other brands can be found on the card-maker’s or laptop brand’s website.
If you only have one card available, this section isn’t relevant to you.
First, we need to access the NVIDIA Control Panel:
1. Right-click anywhere on the Desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.

2. Click on Manage 3D Settings on the left side of the Control Panel window.
3. From there, click on the Program Settings tab.

4. Beneath ”1. Select a program to customise:”, click Add to locate Leapfrog Geo.
5. Click on Browse to find the location of the .exe file.

The default installation location is: C drive > Program Files > Seequent> Leapfrog Geo #.# > bin >
Geo.exe.

6. Once selected, click Open.

7. Using the dropdown beneath 2. Select the preferred graphics processor for this program select the
High-performance NVIDIA processor.
8. Leave the remaining defaults settings as is.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Verifying the Updates | 5

9. Click Apply.

On occasion, the graphics card switch will be unsuccessful if the dedicated graphics card has old
drivers. To ensure a successful switch, update your drivers before switching to your dedicated graphics
card.

Verifying the Updates

Once the drivers are updated and you have switched the in-use graphics card to your dedicated card,
verify these changes have been successfully made.
1. Open the System Info tab (Leapfrog Geo > About > System Info).

© 2018 Seequent Limited

6 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

2. Check that the higher-powered NVIDIA card is now being used and that the drivers show the latest
versions.

To test your graphics card against benchmark cards, click here.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 2: Working with Projects
Contents
Opening and Organising Projects 7
The Leapfrog Geo Main Window 9
The Menu 9
The Toolbar 11
The Project Tree 11
The Processing Panel 13
The Scene 14
The Shape List and Shape Properties Panel 15
The Status Bar 15
Reorganising the Screen Space 15
Interacting with the Scene 16
Creating a Project 17
Working with Leapfrog Projects 17

Goals
In this session, we will cover:
l The basic layout of the Leapfrog Geo screen
l Using the menu and the toolbar
l Interacting with the scene using the mouse
l Creating, opening and closing projects
The project file for this session can be found in the Sessions \ Session 2 - Working with Projects folder.
Watch the videos
l Quick Start Guide - 6:34 Video
l Workflow Structure - 6:52 Video
l The Main Toolbar - 7:38 Video

Opening and Organising Projects

When you open Leapfrog, the Projects tab displays thumbnails of the last five projects opened. Leapfrog
also displays the projects saved in the Search folder. To see the location of a project file, hold the mouse
over the thumbnail. To clear the recent projects, click Clear.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

8 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

You can change the Search folder by clicking on the folder button ( ) and navigating to the folder you
wish to use. This is useful if you have one folder in which you keep most of your Leapfrog Geo projects.

Open a project by clicking on the thumbnail. If the project you want to open is not displayed, click the
Open Project File button to browse for the project.
There is a project file in the data folder for this session. To open the project:
1. In the Projects tab, click Open Project File.
2. Browse to the folder for this session.
3. Select the project Maia Project.aproj and click Open.
This will open the completed project. You will notice that upon opening the file, Leapfrog Geo switches
from the Projects tab to the Scene View tab.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Leapfrog Geo Main Window | 9

Only one project can be open at any time.

The Leapfrog Geo Main Window

The Menu
The Leapfrog menu is rather small:

Don’t be fooled by this, as most of the functionality is revealed by right-clicking on folders and objects in
the project tree.

Saving Leapfrog Projects

Leapfrog projects are saved automatically as you work with them. This means if you exit Leapfrog while
there are tasks still processing, the tasks will be waiting to resume processing the next time you open that
project.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

10 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Saving and Compacting Projects

In addition to the auto-save, there are options to Save a Copy, and Save a Zipped Copy of projects. By
saving a copy, you can save a separate copy of the project to another location on your disk. Saving a
zipped copy lets you save a full copy of the project, including both the project file and the data file which
are discussed later in this session.
It is recommended that if a project is being backed up or saved to pass on to another user or send via
email, the Save a Zipped Copy is used.

Because Leapfrog saves changes to the project automatically, it is easy to switch quickly between
projects. Any processing tasks will resume upon re-opening.

When objects are deleted from a Leapfrog project, the software retains the objects as part of the file, even
though the objects are no longer being used in the project. This can cause projects to unnecessarily take
up a lot of disk space, especially if large objects such as images have been deleted from the project.
To remove these unused objects, there is a Compact This Project option under the menu. This may take a
few minutes, depending on the size of the project, and Leapfrog will close the project and reopen it once
compacting has been completed.

Settings
The Settings option allows a number of default settings to be changed. Most of these options are self
explanatory, however, a few options will be discussed further below.
Click on Processing to select how many processes Leapfrog can use:

By default, this is set to Automatic, which creates one process per physical CPU core, or for every 2.5GB of
RAM, whichever is smaller, up to a limit of 8 processes.

The Automatic is optimised to your specifications and changing it is not recommended.

If your organisation is using Central, click on Central to enable it. In this window you also have the option
to change where local versions of projects are stored, as well as change the location of the Publishing
Cache. This can be helpful if you have limited space on your C drive, the default location. Connection
parameters can also be adjusted in accordance with your network stability and speed.
If you will be in a remote location away from an internet connection, it is recommended that you
download a local copy of the help. Click on Help in the Settings window to change how the help is
accessed.
Click here to download an offline version of the Help.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Toolbar | 11

For more information, see the Settings topic in the online help.

The Toolbar
Leapfrog Geo only has a few toolbar buttons.
One is the Clear Scene button ( ), which removes everything from the scene window. Another displays
the Look menu, for changing to different viewing angles. The slicer, plane, , and ruler tools are all available
in the top toolbar. These tools will be discussed later in the course.
Hold the mouse over each tool in the toolbar to view its function.

The Project Tree

The left-hand panel contains the Project Tree:

When you open any project, there will be a standard list of folders and objects in the project tree. This top-
level list of folders is consistent for all projects. The way objects are organised in the project tree lets you
reveal or hide information about an object to focus on objects you are currently working with.
The project tree is where you import and work with your data.

Right-clicking is your key to Leapfrog functionality:

l Right-click on folders and objects to see the available options.
l Right-click on a folder to create a new object.
Left-clicking selects objects.
Double-clicking opens editing options for existing objects.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

12 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

If you remove or change an object, it will affect any related objects.

Click the triangle ( ) in front of the Drillhole Data folder. When this is open, you can see a Drillholes
object that also has a triangle in front of it. Open the Drillholes object to see the data tables that make up
the drillhole data in the project. You can also open up each table to look at the data it contains.

This nested folder structure is useful for keeping projects organised. To collapse all folders, right-click on
the project tree near the upper left hand corner and select Collapse All.

Subfolders
To help in organising a large number of objects, subfolders can be created beneath top level folders in the
project tree.
To create a new subfolder, right-click on a folder in the project tree and select New Subfolder. Objects
can be added to subfolders either by clicking and dragging them, or by using Ctrl+X (Cut) and Ctrl+V
(Paste).
Subfolders can be created in all top level folders apart from the Topography and Drillhole Data folders.

Notes and Comments

There are a couple useful tools to help document the process used to create your project: Notes, and
Comments. Information about your overall project can be recorded using the Notes folder, at the bottom
of the project tree. In addition, right-clicking on any object will bring up a Comments panel, which allows
the user to add comments regarding that specific object. Both Notes and Comments support hyperlinks
so you can link to pertinent external information. Comments are also available on Subfolders.

For more information, see the Project Tree topic in the online help.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Processing Panel | 13

The Processing Panel

The Processing Panel is opened by clicking the button to the right of the Leapfrog Geo menu:

The button is inactive when there are no running tasks, and green when tasks are running.
This panel lists all processes that are running or waiting to run. The number of processes running at any
one time depends on your settings in the Settings > Processing window, as discussed earlier.
Leapfrog is either able to run all processes, run priority processes only, or pause all processing.
Run All will run all queued processes in the default order.
Priority Only only runs tasks that have been assigned as ‘priority’.

When opening a project, tasks may need to be processed. Sometimes when a project is opened,
processing is paused, which is indicated by the pause button in the processing panel:

If processing does not start automatically once the project has been loaded, open the Processing
Panel and select Run All.

Prioritised Running
If you would like to give a task priority so that it is processed before other tasks, right-click on the object in
the project tree and select Prioritise.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

14 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Objects such as geological models are usually dependent on other objects, such as drillholes and
topographies. If this is the case, higher level objects (drillholes and topographies) will be processed first to
allow the prioritised objects to be processed.
To clear prioritised running for objects, right-click on the object in the project tree and select Clear
Priority. If a number of objects have been given priority and you would like to clear them all at the same
time, there is a small pink arrow above the project tree:

Click on the button to select all prioritised objects in the project tree, then right-click on one of the objects
and select Clear Priority:

The Scene
To the right of the project tree is the scene. This is where objects appear when they are added from the
project tree. To add an object to the scene, click on an object in the project tree with the left mouse button,
then drag and drop it into the scene. You can also right-click on an object and select View Object:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Shape List and Shape Properties Panel | 15

The Shape List and Shape Properties Panel

The shape list below the scene window lists all objects that are active (visible) in the scene window:

The functionality of these tools will be discussed in Session 3: Importing Drillhole Data.

The Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the window has some useful features.

The coordinates that appear in the status bar ( ) show the location of the mouse
cursor when it is over an object in the scene window. No coordinates are displayed when the cursor isn’t
over an object as Leapfrog doesn’t know where in 3D space you’re trying to measure.
The Z-Scale button lets you set a value of 1 or greater for the Z-axis relative to the X- and Y-axes. This is
useful for thin, flat projects that are difficult to visualise with a Z-scale of 1.
The Acceleration option is also important. There are three modes: Software Rendering (not
recommended), Partial Acceleration and Full Acceleration. You can find out more about each option by
clicking the button and reading the descriptions for each. It’s best to test both Partial Acceleration and
Full Acceleration modes to see which one gives you the highest frames per second (FPS) value. The FPS
value tells you how quickly objects in the scene can be rendered. If this gets too low (below 10), you
should consider updating your graphics card. If this isn’t possible, you can reduce the number of 3D
objects (e.g. by clicking the Make lines solid option for drillholes ( ) or transparent objects in the scene.

Reorganising the Screen Space

You can split the Leapfrog main window into separate parts to make better use of your screen space. To
detach a tab, click on it and drag it away from the main window. You can then move and resize the
detached tab.
You can also:
l Detach the project tree. Right-click at the top of the project tree and select Detach.
l Display the shape list to the right of the scene window. Right-click on the shape list and select the
arrangement you prefer.
l Display the shape list apart from the main window. Right-click on the shape list and select Put List in
Separate Tab. Then you can detach the shape list from the main window as you would any other tab.
You can dock a tab by dragging it onto the main window. Release the mouse button when the tab
becomes partially transparent. You can reattach the project tree by closing it, and dock the shape list by
right-clicking in it and selecting where you wish to have it.
You can also dock any tab or window by closing it. If you have rearranged your screen space, close all
undocked tabs and windows to return to the original screen layout.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

16 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Interacting with the Scene

Rotating
Left-click on the mouse (index finger) and move the mouse.
You can also rotate the scene by pressing the arrow buttons on your keyboard.

Zooming
To zoom either move your scroll wheel up and down or click and hold the right mouse button, and move
the mouse up and down. You can also use the Page Up and Page Down keys on your keyboard.

Panning
Click the left and right mouse buttons together then move the mouse around, or click the scroll button.

Centre of Rotation
To centre on something in the view, hover over it. You will see some numbers at the bottom of the screen
that indicate that the cursor is on something in the scene window. When you move over empty space, the
numbers disappear.
Click with both left and right buttons together (or the scroll wheel button) on the item that you want in the
centre. This will then remain in the centre of the scene. When you rotate and when you zoom in, it zooms
in on that item. This can be very useful.
To return the centre of rotation to the default (the centre of your project extents), press the Home key on
your keyboard.

For more information, including a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts, see the Navigation topic
in the online help.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a Project | 17

Creating a Project
Next we will build a simple model with five rock types to introduce the basic concepts of geological
modelling in Leapfrog Geo. The rock types we will be using are:
l Cover (Casing) (youngest)
l Dike
l Quartz Porphyry (QzP)
l Granodiorite (GnD)
l Basement (MiS) (oldest)
First, we will set up a folder for all Leapfrog projects.
1. Click on the Projects tab.
2. Click the New Project button:

3. Click on the Browse button to put a folder on your local disk.

Note: The project needs to be on your local disk rather than on a network drive to ensure the database
operates consistently.
4. Make a new folder and call it Leapfrog Projects.
5. Click OK.
6. Name the new project ‘Maia’ and click OK.
Leapfrog will display a blank project called Maia.

Working with Leapfrog Projects

When your project was created, Leapfrog automatically created a sub-folder called Maia that contains the
Maia.aproj project file and all supporting files.

Leapfrog Project Files

Your Leapfrog project is made up of a number of different folders. In this screenshot, Maia.aproj is the
actual project, and Maia.aproj_data folder is the database containing the binary code that makes up your
project:

It’s a good idea to stay away from this folder: You can’t change anything in your project by looking in it,
and if you move or delete anything from it, you run the risk of corrupting your project.
When the project is open in Leapfrog, a Maia.lock file will appear in this folder. The .lock file protects the
project from being moved while the project is open and from being opened by another instance of
Leapfrog, which can happen when projects are saved on shared network drives.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

© 2018 Seequent Limited
Session 3: Importing Drillhole Data
Contents
Importing Maia Campaign Data 19
The Collar File 21
The Survey File 22
Interval Tables 22
Fixing Errors 24
Errors in the Numeric Data and Invalid Value Handling 24
Viewing the Data in the Scene 26
The Shape List 27
The Properties Panel 28
Drillhole Unit Colour Filtering 29
Importing and Exporting Colour Files 29

Goals
In this session, we will import and validate existing drillhole data for a project. In these early sessions,
we are focussing on lithological data.
At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
l Importing drillhole data
l Checking and labelling collar, survey, and interval table data
l Viewing the data (Shape List and Properties Panel)
Note: You can import additional data at any point during the modelling process. However, Leapfrog
can have only one drillhole data set in a project. Therefore, additional drillhole data that is imported will
be added to or will update the existing drillhole data set.
Techniques for adding new drillholes or updating data down drillholes are covered in Session 6:
Dynamic Updating.
The data for this session is in the Sessions \ Session 3 to 10 - Maia folder.
Watch the video
l Importing Drillhole Data - 10:34 Video
l Visualisation Scene List & Properties Panel - 8:05 Video

Importing Maia Campaign Data

To start, we need to get data into Leapfrog. The answer to most things in the project tree is to right-click.
To import drillhole data:
1. Right-click on the Drillhole Data folder at the top of the project tree.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

20 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

2. Select the Import Drillholes option:

The Import Drillhole Data window will open:

Drillhole data import requires a minimum of three files; a collar file, a survey file and at least one interval
table file. Each file is imported as a table and has a certain number of required columns. You can also
import additional columns, such as the date when measurements were taken, the zone/area/region of
drilling, the name of the logging geologist, etc.

Leapfrog is a unit-less program: It adopts the units that are imported (metres or feet). The values you
see throughout a project (e.g. surface resolution, distance measured with the ruler) are in the unit that
was imported. Be consistent!

At this point, we need to add the collar, survey and interval tables to the Input Files list.
3. Click the Browse button for Collar.
4. Navigate to the location where the Leapfrog Geo Training Data folder has been saved and open the
Sessions folder.
5. Open the Session 3 to 10 - Maia folder.
6. Open the Session 3 - Importing Drillhole Data folder.
7. Open the M_drilling folder.
8. Select the file M_collar.csv.
9. Click Open.
Leapfrog looks for survey and interval tables in the same folder as the collar file, and if it finds them it will
add them to the Import Drillhole Data window. If the survey and interval tables are in a different location,
or have different file names, you will need to select the additional files. If this is the case, you can add files
by clicking the Browse button for the survey file, or the Add button for Interval Tables and selecting the
file.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Collar File | 21

In this case, however, Leapfrog has added all the files and we can start importing them:

10. Click Import.

This opens the Import Drillholes window with a preview of the data Leapfrog has read from your collar
table. When importing and previewing drillhole data, required columns are marked in green, and
additional columns are marked in orange.
Leapfrog works through the files being imported one at a time. Progress is shown at the top of the
window. The filename in bold is the file currently being displayed (M collar.csv). There are also M survey,
M_assay and M geology files.
It is possible to choose the encoding you would like Leapfrog to use when importing drillhole data. By
leaving the auto encoding option selected, Leapfrog will select the most suitable encoding type. If there are
uncommon international characters in your drillhole data, select the Character Encoding dropdown and
find the encoding type that matches your data.

The Collar File

The collar file needs at least the following columns: East (X), North (Y), Elev (Z) and Hole ID.
It is recommended that the collar file also has a maximum depth column that specifies the length of the
hole. This can be used to validate interval table data with the collar file.
There are a number of data column types to choose from. Leapfrog automatically selects East (X), North
(Y), Elev (Z), Hole ID and Max Depth based on the column headers from the database. In this case, the
Local Easting and Local Northing columns have been selected as the coordinate columns, but will need to
be changed to the UTM columns to be consistent with other data we import later.
To change the automatic selection:
11. Click on the Not Imported label above the East_UTM column and select East (X):

This will deselect the original, incorrect, selection and select the column we have indicated.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

22 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

12. Repeat for the North_UTM column so both East (X) and North (Y) are using the UTM columns rather
than the local columns:

When you import drillhole data, less is best. It is easy to add columns later, but once a column is added,
it cannot be removed. When you append new data later on, it will need to contain the exact same
columns. When carrying out the initial import, consider carefully what you need.

We have now selected all the columns we want to import.

13. Click Next.

The Survey File

The survey file defines the orientation of the drillholes at given depths. The survey file must have columns
for Hole ID, Depth, Dip and Azimuth. For a straight drillhole, only one row needs to be specified.

Leapfrog Azimuth = Dip Direction

There is a check box that indicates Negative Dips Points Down. Typically Leapfrog Geo can auto-detect
this, but if you have abundant underground drilling, you may need to double-check Leapfrog’s choice.
In this case, the four required columns have been correctly selected by default:

14. Click Next to go to the M_assay table.

Interval Tables
Interval table data specifies segments down the drillhole with associated values such as lithology codes or
assay values.
Interval table files must have columns for the Hole ID, From and To depth and one or more columns of
measurements. Measurements can include grade, lithology, date or any required numeric or textual
values.
The M_assay table has a single column that we would like to import. By default, Leapfrog has not selected
the gold (Au) column for import.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Interval Tables | 23

15. Click on the Not Imported label above the Au column and select Numeric:

The M_geology table has two columns we wish to import. To import multiple data columns at once, it is
easier to work in the Column Summary on the right hand side:

The Simple_Lith column has been correctly set as Lithology, but we need to set the other column so it can
be imported.

The Import As options are important to fully understand:

l Lithology and Category are used to import any categorical data (lith codes, weathering, alteration,
etc). Functionally equivalent in Leapfrog.
l Text is used to import ‘Summary’ or ‘Description’ columns. Such columns are functionally limited in
Leapfrog as columns imported as Text cannot be used for modelling.
l Numeric is used to import any numeric data (assays, quality, RQDs, etc).
l Time Stamp and Date are used to import time and data information. Custom formats are
supported.
l URL is used to import an associated URL and can be used to connect core photos to drillholes in
Leapfrog.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

24 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

16. In the Column Summary, click on the Strat column and choose Category:

17. Click Finish.

Leapfrog will process the data, checking for errors in the database and desurveying the drillholes. Progress
will be listed in the processing panel.

Fixing Errors
Upon import, you will notice that Leapfrog has flagged errors with the data set, with a little red X:

Before we go through the process of fixing errors within Leapfrog, it is important to mention that doing so
is a last resort. Ideally, the errors should be fixed in the source database so they do not perpetuate through
all future projects. Fortunately, Leapfrog Geo has a tool to help.
1. Right-click on the M_assay table and select Export Errors.
2. Give the .csv file a name and click Save.
The csv sheet can then be given to the database manager to update the database with the correct
information. The data can then be reloaded into Leapfrog, error-free.
In the event that it is not practical to clean up the data in the database, Leapfrog Geo has several tools to fix
errors internally.

Exporting errors is a great way to keep your database clean and updated.

Errors in the Numeric Data and Invalid Value Handling

Leapfrog flags numeric intervals that are missing, contain non numeric values, or contain non positive
values in addition to errors like overlapping segments. For each item, we can replace, omit, or keep the
original value. We will look at the errors in the Au column.
1. Double-click on Au under the assay table.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Errors in the Numeric Data and Invalid Value Handling | 25

2. The Invalid Value Handling window will appear for Gold.

In this window we can see that there is one Missing value, one Non-numeric value which occurs 19
times, and no Numeric values. We will start by considering the Missing value.
3. Under the Missing values heading, we can use the dropdown menu to select Omit or Replace.
If we select Replace, we will be able to enter an appropriate value in the Replace With column. In this case,
we will leave the action as Omit.
4. Next, we will address the single, reoccurring non-numeric value. Under the Non-numeric values
heading, select Add Rule.
A window with the non-numeric values will appear. We can see that this value is <0.02.
5. Click OK.
This adds <0.02 to the non numeric values window, which we can then use to define the action we would
like to take whenever Leapfrog comes across this value in the Au table.
6. In this case, <0.02 is the detection limit, so we will replace it with half the detection limit, which is 0.01:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

26 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

7. Once you have added the necessary rules, you can tick the checkbox for These rules have been
reviewed, then click Save.
This will remove the little red X on the column.
If no additional rules are added, Leapfrog will use the Default Action for all of them, which is Omit. You
can also use the Default Action to replace all non-numeric values with one value.

Viewing the Data in the Scene

To view the imported data, drag and drop the individual tables into the scene window. Here, the collar
table has been added to the scene:

8. There is nothing to view in the survey data but you can add the M_geology table to the scene to view the
data.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 The Shape List | 27

You will see the objects listed in the shape list:

The Shape List

The controls shown in the shape list depend on the type of object, but all objects have a visibility button ( )
to make it visible or invisible in the scene, an icon indicating what type of object it is, and a delete button ( )
for removing it from the scene (but not the project). Other controls in the shape list are:
l A dropdown list showing object attributes that can be used to display the object. For example, the M_
geology table can be displayed using a flat colour or using either of its columns, Simple_Lith and Strat.
l The second dropdown list lets you edit colours or select colourmaps.
l A legend button ( ) appears for many objects. Click the button to show a legend in the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

28 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

If you click on Edit Colours, you can change what categories are displayed and change the colours to
display them:

In the Legend window, click on a colour chip to open the Select Colour window and change the colour:

You can use the eyedropper tool ( ) to select a colour from your screen.

The Properties Panel

The properties panel in the lower right hand corner displays more detailed information about the object
selected in the shape list:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drillhole Unit Colour Filtering | 29

It allows you to change how that object is displayed in the scene in a number of ways. For example, you
can change the Slice Mode and applying a Query Filter. Both of these will be discussed later in the course.
For drillholes, the properties panel lets you change the Line Width.

Drillhole Unit Colour Filtering

Frequently when visually reviewing your data and building models, it is helpful to view only certain units at
a time. To change the units that are displayed:
1. Drag the M_geology table into the scene.
2. Enable the legend ( ) for the M_geology table.
3. Click on the Edit Colours button for the M_Geology table.
4. In the Legend window, use the visibility button ( ) to show and hide units.
5. Click the visibility button at the top of the window to show or hide all units.
Note how the legend displayed in the scene is updated as you show or hide units:

6. Once satisfied with your selection, click OK.

Importing and Exporting Colour Files

Once a series of colours have been chosen in Leapfrog Geo, they can be exported as an *.lfc file (Leapfrog
Colour File). These can then be imported into other Leapfrog projects to save time setting the colours up.
This is particularly useful if your company has a specified colour scheme that is consistent across different
software packages and different projects.
In this project, we will import *.lfc files for the columns in the M_geology table.
1. Right-click on the Simple_Lith column under the M_geology table in the project tree and select Colours
> Import.
2. Navigate to and select the Simple_Lith.lfc file.
The colours will automatically update in the scene.
3. Repeat for the Strat column of data.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

30 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

To export an *.lfc, right-click on one of a table’s columns and select Colours > Export:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 4: Creating a Topography
Contents
Importing Topography Points 31
Creating a Topography 33
Resolution 34
Topography Surface Options 36
Importing and Draping Images and GIS Data 37
Creating a New View 39

Goals
In this session, we will import topography points and use them to create a topography. We will then
import an image and drape it on the topography.
At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
l Importing points that correspond to the topography
l Creating the topography
l The concept of surface resolution
l Importing a georeferenced image
l Draping an image and GIS data on the topography
l Creating a new view
The data for this session is in the Sessions \ Session 3 to 10 - Maia folder.
This session continues to use the same project we created in Session 3: Importing Drillhole Data.

Importing Topography Points

To select the topography points to import:
1. Click on the Clear scene button ( ) to remove any objects from the scene window.
2. Right-click on the Points folder in the project tree and select Import Points:

3. Browse to the folder for this session, and double-click on the topography points to import them.
4. Make sure all three columns (East (X), North(Y) and Elev (Z)) are selected for importing.
5. Click Finish.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

32 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

6. View the points by dragging the Maia_topo_points object from the project tree into the scene:

We can see that the icon beside the topo points has a little red x on in ( ), indicating there may be errors in
the dataset.
7. Right-click on the points object in the project tree and select Fix Errors.
We can see there are 10 duplicate points.
8. Click the black triangles until you can see the list of duplicate points, click on the top one to see it in the
list.
9. Having duplicate points in a dataset is fairly common, thus Leapfrog has a quick fix available; click the
Ignore Duplicates button.
10. Click Save ( ) and close the tab.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a Topography | 33

11. Click the Make points solid button ( ) and change the Point radius setting so that the points appear
similar to this:

Creating a Topography
To create the topography:
1. Right-click on the Topographies folder in the project tree.
2. Select New Topography > From Points:

As the collar file contains points (x, y and z), as well as the newly imported topo points, the option to
choose either is available.
3. In this case, the topo points contain more detail, so select the Maia_topo_points file and click OK:

4. In the window that appears, accept the default name for the topography by clicking OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

34 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

5. Drag the new topography into the scene:

6. Press the D key to view the surface from above.

7. At the moment we are looking at the surface, but to view the triangles making up the surface, click the
Show edges icon ( ):

Resolution
We can see that the triangles are reasonably coarse compared to the point spacing. There are a few
options in Leapfrog to make the surface represent the points more accurately.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Resolution | 35

1. Double-click on the topography object in the project tree

There are Surface resolution and Adaptive settings.

Decreasing the value of Surface Resolution makes the triangles making up the surface smaller. The
resolution is approximately equal to the length of the sides of the triangles. In this case, a resolution of
between 20 and 50 is appropriate.
When the Adaptive setting is enabled, the surface will have a finer resolution where the data is closely
spaced and a coarser resolution where the data is sparse.
2. Enter a value of 20 for the Surface resolution setting.
3. Tick the Adaptive checkbox.
4. Click OK.
5. Press the D key to view the scene from above.
The triangles are smaller near points and larger further away:

An alternative way to create a topography is from the collar points. To do this, follow the above steps but
select the collar data instead of the Maia_topo_points.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

36 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Topography Surface Options

Once a topographic surface has been created in the Topographies folder, you have a couple of options
regarding your collar coordinates.
If you trust your collar elevation information it can be added to your topographic surface. Do this by right-
clicking on the new Topography >Add Height Data > Points:

Select the collar points and click OK. The collar points will then inform the Topography surface. If you wish
to remove the added collar points, click the little black triangle beside Topography to expand it, showing
the objects making up the surface. Right-click the collar points > Remove.

Alternatively, if you trust your Topography data more than your collar coordinates, there is also the option
to project your collars onto your Topography. Do this by right-clicking the collar table and ticking the box
for Project Collars onto Topography:

Be aware that when you project your collars, the z-coordinate actually changes in the collar table to reflect
the new topography elevation. This can simply be reversed by unticking the box.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Importing and Draping Images and GIS Data | 37

Importing and Draping Images and GIS Data

In this section, we will import a georeferenced image and display the data in the scene draped on the
topography. First, we will import the image.
1. Right-click on GIS Data, Maps and Photos in the project tree and select Import Map.
2. Select the Maia aerial photo.tif image and click Open.
A new tab will appear in which you can choose to either use the existing georeference data or override it.
This file includes georeference information:

3. Click Import to import the image into the project.

It will be stored in the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and now we can drape it on the topography.
4. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
5. Add the Topography surface to the scene.
6. In the shape list, turn off the Show edges option ( ).
7. Click on the GIS data dropdown list, select Maps and Photos and then select the imported image:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

38 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The image will appear draped on the topography:

There are also GIS lines representing rivers and roads, which can be imported and draped on the
topography.
Right-click on the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and select Import Vector Data.
8. Select both shape files and click Open.
The Filter data option allows you to filter GIS data to within a certain distance of a bounding box, but in
this case we would like to import the complete files.

9. Untick the Filter data option.

10. Click OK to import the files.
The imported GIS lines appear in both the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and in the Draped
GIS Objects folder, which is under the Topographies folder:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a New View | 39

The GIS lines in the Draped GIS Objects folder are automatically draped onto the topography, and both
the draped and undraped GIS lines can be viewed in the scene. Here the undraped GIS lines are displayed
in the scene with the topography:

Creating a New View

If necessary, it is possible to drape more that one object/layer on a topography surface at once. This can
be useful for maps/images imported as separate panels, or for displaying various GIS data along with
maps or images.
1. Remove the GIS data objects from the scene but leave the topography displayed.
2. In the shape list, click on the GIS data dropdown list and select Views > Edit Views:

3. Click the New button in the Edit GIS Views window.

4. Give the new view a name and click Create:

5. Drag the desired layers from the Available layers column into the Current layers column.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

40 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

6. Use the controls to change how the selected data is displayed:

l Ensure that images are displayed at the bottom of the list or they will obscure GIS objects.
l You can modify the colour, width and transparency used to display each object. The controls are
similar to those in the shape list.

7. Click Close.
The scene will be updated to use the new GIS view to display the topography:

Edit the view by clicking on the GIS data dropdown list and selecting Views > Edit views.
You can create as many GIS views as you require.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 5: Building a Basic Geological Model
Contents
Creating a New Geological Model 41
Modelling Strategy 43
Modelling the Cover 43
Modelling the Dike 45
Modelling the Two Intrusions 46
Modelling the Depositional Sequence 51
Creating Output Volumes 55
Examining the 3D Model in 2D 57
Split Views 61
Surfaces in Leapfrog Geo 62

Goals
In this session, we will model a depositional sequence which has been intruded by first a granodiorite,
then a quartz porphyry, and finally a dike. The sequence is overlain by cover, which has been logged
by the geologist as Casing.
At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
l Creating a geological model
l How different surface types work and when to use each type
l Defining an erosional surface
l Defining veins
l Defining intrusions
l Using the moving plane to adjust a surface
l Defining a stratigraphic sequence
l Snapping surfaces to drillholes
l Defining the chronological order of surfaces
l Changing the resolution of a geological model
l Viewing the model in 2D slice mode
For this session, open or continue with the Maia project from Session 4: Creating a Topography.

Creating a New Geological Model

To create a new geological model:
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Right-click on Geological Models folder in the project tree and select New Geological Model.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

42 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. In the window that appears, make sure the Strat column is selected for the Base lithology column:

The Base lithology column is the only parameter that cannot be changed in a Geological Model once
it is created, so choose thoughtfully!

4. Click the Enclose Object dropdown, and select the M_geology table:

This sets the boundary of the geological model to the extents of the drilling.
5. Change the Surface resolution to 20, and the name of the GM to “Maia Geological Model”.
6. Click OK.
The new geological model will appear in the project tree made up of several objects:

l The Boundary defines the lateral extents of the model. It consists of the rectangular extents defined
when the model was created, cut by the topography surface, if one exists in the project. Lateral extents
can be added to the Boundary and will appear in the project tree as part of the Boundary object. Lateral

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Modelling Strategy | 43

extents can be of any shape and size and can be added by right-clicking on the Boundary object and
selecting New Lateral Extent.
l The Fault System is used to add and refine any modelled faults. This will be discussed later on in the
course.
l Lithologies are automatically defined by the codes in the Base lithology column. You can add more
lithology codes to the model by double-clicking on the Lithologies object and clicking Add. Any
lithologies added to the model that do not exist in the base lithology column will be displayed in bold
italics.
l The Surface Chronology is where most of the geological model’s functionality can be found. The
Surface Chronology is used to create all the different contact surfaces that define the model’s volumes.
Most of this session will focus on this tool.
l The Output Volumes are the resultant volumes defined by the contact surfaces created in Surface
Chronology. This folder has no functionality; it is simply a container for the model’s volumes and all
modifications to the volumes are carried out via the surfaces defined in the Surface Chronology.

The Geological Models folder can be used to model any categorical data such as lithology,
weathering, alteration, mineralised zones, vein percentage, etc.

Modelling Strategy
Different users start their models differently, but there are some rules of thumb that make the process
easier.
You will notice when you first create a new model that there is in the Output Volumes folder an Unknown
volume, defined by the extents of the model and cut by topography. The process of geological modelling
in Leapfrog starts by using the tools available under Surface Chronology to create contact surfaces that
will be used to “cut up” that Unknown volume into the respective units. Using this approach of starting with
a finite volume and using contact surfaces to “cut” it into units means that, inherently, there will no void
space or overlapping volumes in the geological model.
When working in an environment with intrusive, potentially cross-cutting units (veins, dikes, intrusions), it’s
important to start building surfaces youngest to oldest so the cross-cutting relationships are honoured.
In the model we are working on, it makes sense to model the cover (casing) first. Frequently, the
overburden, cover, casing. etc is the first unit to be modelled. We will model the dike next, because it cross-
cuts/contacts the older units. Once the vein contacts are defined, we will model the two intrusions, the
quartz porphyry and the granodiorite. The last lithologies to be modelled are part of a depositional
sequence, which we will model as a sequence of deposits, but also demonstrate how to model using the
Stratigraphy surface tool.

Typically you will activate one fewer contact surfaces than there are output volumes. For example, if
your final model has five output volumes, you will activate four contact surfaces. There are exceptions
to this, but it’s a good guideline to keep in mind.

Modelling the Cover

The first lithology we need to create a contact surface for is the Cover. To do this, we will use the erosion
tool. Depositional surfaces and erosional surfaces are both created in the same manner, with the
difference being in the way that the surfaces are cut when producing volumes. This is discussed further at
the end of this session.
To create the erosional surface:
1. Right-click on the Surface Chronology and select New Erosion > From Base Lithology.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

44 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The New Contact Points window will appear:

2. Set the primary lithology to Casing and click on Use contacts below:

Use contacts below ensures the surface will pass through all instances where a lithology contacts below
the Casing. You will see numbers listed after the D1, D2, and QzP units; these indicate how many times the
Casing contacts each lithology. In this case, the Casing contacts with the D1 unit seven times, the D2 unit
five times and the QzP two times. The remaining units are left in the Ignored lithologies column because
they never contact the Casing.
3. Click OK.
4. Add the M_geology table to the scene and make sure that the Strat column is being displayed:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Modelling the Dike | 45

5. Add the surface to the scene to view it:

Modelling the Dike

Before we start modelling the Dike, let’s look at the lithology data in the scene.
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Add the M_geology table to the scene.
3. Click Edit Colours and change the display so you can only see the Dike lithology:

There are nine intervals that intercept the Dike, but they contain enough information to create a
reasonable volume .
4. Right-click on the Surface Chronology under the geological model and select New Vein > From Base
Lithology.
The Vein surface tool can be used to model any tabular surface, including veins, dikes and damage zones
such as fault zones.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

46 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

5. Select the Dike unit for the Vein lithology:

The Include points at the ends of holes option is for when a drillhole ends in the vein lithology. This
setting lets you choose whether or not to create a point representing the end of these drillholes. In this
instance, it isn’t relevant as there are no drillholes that end in the Dike lithology. This setting can be
changed at any time after the dike has been created.
6. Click OK to create the dike, which will appear in the project tree.
7. Add the new dike to the scene:

The dike is clipped to the model boundary by default and does a good job of representing the lithology
shown in the drilling considering the limited information.
There are a number of settings that can be changed once the default dike has been produced, but for now
we will leave these as they are and come back to them later.

Modelling the Two Intrusions

There are two intrusions shown in the drilling, the Granodiorite (GnD) and the Quartz Porphyry (QzP). We
will model these using the intrusion tool.
The Quartz Porphyry (QzP) is the younger intrusion so we will model it first.
1. Remove the dike from the scene.
2. Click the Edit Colours button for the M_geology table to display all lithologies.
3. Right-click on Surface Chronology and select New Intrusion > From Base Lithology.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Setting a Global Trend | 47

4. Select QzP as the interior lithology, and drag the Casing and Dike lithologies across to Ignore (Younger
Lithologies):

The lithologies that remain in the Exterior lithologies window will be used in the point generation;
whenever the QzP contacts against any of the remaining lithologies, a point will be created. The Casing
and Dike lithologies are ignored here because they are both younger than the Quartz Porphyry (QzP), so
didn’t exist when the quartz porphyry was emplaced. In practical terms in Leapfrog, any contacts that exist
between the QzP and the Casing and Dike units have already been created and we do not want to make
them twice, as this can lead to void spaces in the model.
5. Click OK.
6. Add the Quartz Porphyry (QzP) surface to the scene:

Two volumes are created. We would expect these to link up, but there isn’t enough data to extend each
volume so that they meet. To fix this, we can apply a global trend. This allows us to specify a direction of
maximum continuity and a direction of minimum continuity in order to control the stretch of the intrusion.

Setting a Global Trend

7. Orient the Quartz Porphyry (QzP) segments in the scene so they are aligned either along strike or down
dip.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

48 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

8. Use the Draw Plane line tool in the toolbar ( ) to draw a plane through the QzP intervals.

9. Click on the plane to see the handles:

If the plane needs to be modified, the handles can be used to do so in the scene:
l The red handles expand the plane.
l The blue handles adjust the azimuth.
l The yellow handles adjust the dip.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Setting a Global Trend | 49

The plane can be moved using the centre arrow, and how this works is determined by a setting in the
properties panel for the plane. Click on the plane in the shape list and select whether movement aligns to
the Axes or to the Camera:

10. Double-click on the Quartz Porphyry (QzP) intrusion in the project tree.
11. Click on the Trend tab.
12. Click Set From Plane.
This copies the Dip, Dip Azimuth and Pitch values from the plane to the intrusion:

l The Maximum trend direction is represented by the Pitch, which is the green line on the plane.
l The Intermediate trend direction is perpendicular to the Pitch, but still in the plane.
l The Minimum trend direction is out of plane, i.e. perpendicular to both the Maximum and
Intermediate directions.
The Ellipsoid Ratios will automatically populate with 3,3,1.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

50 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The important point to remember is that the ratio between the maximum, minimum, and intermediate lets
us control the anisotropy of the surface. In this case, by using the default values of the Maximum (3),
Intermediate (3) and Minimum (1), we can make the intrusion look more realistic.

13. Click OK.

14. Remove the moving plane from the scene.
The updated surface should be similar to this:

15. Go back to the Trend tab and experiment with different values for the Ellipsoid Ratios.
This will give you a sense of how influential a global trend can be.

Now we will repeat the process for the Granodiorite (GnD) intrusion.
16. Remove the Quartz Porphyry (QzP) intrusion from the scene.
17. Right-click on Surface Chronology and select New Intrusion > From Base Lithology.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Modelling the Depositional Sequence | 51

18. Ignore the Casing, QzP and Dike lithologies. The remaining lithologies make up our depositional
sequence:

19. Click OK.

20. The Granodiorite (GnD) has clear trend, so we can follow the steps used above to add a trend to the
Quartz Porphyry (QzP).
21. Add the Granodiorite (GnD) surface to the scene:

Modelling the Depositional Sequence

We will now model the sedimentary deposits. The remaining stratigraphy comprises D1 through D5, with
D1 being the youngest through to D5, the oldest. In keeping with our modelling strategy, youngest to
oldest, we will model the contact between D1 and D2 first.
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Add the M_geology table to the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

52 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Click Edit Colours and change the display so you can only see the D1 through D5 deposits:

4. Right-click on Surface Chronology and select New Deposit > From Base Lithology.
5. Select D1 as the primary lithology, select Use contacts below and drag the Quartz Porphyry (QzP)
lithology across to Ignored Lithologies:

6. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Using the New Stratigraphy Surface to Build the Depositional Sequence | 53

7. Drag the new D2 - D1 contacts surface into the scene and confirm that the colours on the surface
match those in your drillholes:

8. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for deposits D2 through D4:

l Select Use contacts below.
l Move all of the younger, intrusive lithologies into the Ignored Lithologies box as you are creating your
new surfaces.

We don’t need to create a surface for the last remaining lithology, D5, as it will automatically be modelled
as the “everything else” within our model boundary.

Using the New Stratigraphy Surface to Build the Depositional Sequence

As an alternative workflow to modelling each of the deposits separately, as above, we can use the New
Stratigraphy surface in the Surface Chronology.
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Add the M_geology table to the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

54 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Right-click on Surface Chronology and select New Stratigraphy.

4. Select D1 for Lithology Above and D5 for Lithology Below. Note: the selected lithologies above and
below are part of the stratigraphic sequence.
5. Click Add Lithologies to select the rest of the deposits within the sequence:

They are automatically in order as they appear down the drillholes.

6. Click OK, then click OK again.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Output Volumes | 55

7. Add the new Stratigraphic Sequence to the scene:

Creating a stratigraphic sequence is a simple process, but it does have some limitations. For example,
stratigraphic sequences cannot respect pinch-outs.

Creating Output Volumes

We now have eight surfaces (plus a stratigraphic sequence) representing eight out of the nine lithologies.
The final lithology is D5, which we do not need to create a surface for. Instead it will be the remaining
volume that is not already defined by the Casing, Dike, Quartz Porphyry (QzP), Granodiorite (GnD) and
depositional surfaces, D1-D4. Now we need to turn these surfaces into volumes that cut one another.
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Double-click on Surface Chronology.
3. Change the order of the lithologies so that the youngest is at the top and the oldest is at the bottom:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

56 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

This step defines the cutting relationships for the surfaces. If you view all the surfaces in the scene at once
you will notice that they overlap each other. This overlap is reconciled by defining their cutting
relationships here.
4. Tick the boxes for all the surfaces except the Stratigraphic Sequence.
5. Change the Background Lithology to D5.

6. Click OK.
There are two ways to view the geological model in the scene:
l View the geological model as a single object in the scene (shape list), by dragging in the upper level
Maia Geological Model object. With this option, the visibility of individual volumes is controlled using the
Edit Colours option.

d
l View the individual volumes within the Maia Geological Model in the scene (shape list), by dragging in
the Output Volumes folder. With this option, the visualisation options are available in the shape list for
each volume.

7. Add the geological model to the scene using one of these two options.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Examining the 3D Model in 2D | 57

We can see how the surfaces have cut against each other to produce volumes:

Examining the 3D Model in 2D

While modelling in Leapfrog is designed to be done in 3D space directly from the drillhole data, as we’ve
just seen, it is frequently useful to view your data, and your output volumes in 2D.
There are two tools in the toolbar that control the slicer:
l The Draw slicer line tool ( ) cuts a new slice in the scene at any orientation you want.
l The Show slicing plane tool ( ) toggles the slicing plane on and off.
We will create a new slice:
1. Press the D key to look straight down on your model.
This will allow you to create a vertical slice.
2. Click on the Draw slicer line tool ( ) in the toolbar.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

58 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Click and drag to draw a slice in any orientation you want.

Interacting with the Slicer

Once a slice is active in the scene, there are many options for interacting with it that are controlled in the
shape list and the properties panel:

When a slicer is added to the scene, it also shows up in the shape list, like any other object. There are a
number of tools available here to affect how the slicer appears in the scene:
l Thick slice ( ) creates a slicer with a specific width set by the user.
l Remove front ( ) removes everything in front of the slicing plane, displays everything behind it.
l Remove back ( ) removes everything behind the slicing plane, displays everything in front of it.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Viewing and Moving the Slice | 59

l Align to camera ( ) moves the slicing plane to align with the current camera view. Use with caution as
you will lose your originally selecting slicing orientation!
l Slice East (X) Axis ( ), Slice North (Y) Axis ( ) and Slice Elevation (Z) Axis ( ) set specific easting,
northing or elevation for the slicer.
l Use Lock slicer to camera ( ) with caution for a unique view of your data.
l Centre slicer in scene ( ) is very useful if you wish to investigate your model using multiple slice
orientations around a certain point. Centre the point of interest in the scene (using your scroll wheel
button). Click this icon to centre the slicer over that point. Now you can set the slicer to any style or
orientation and the slicer will remain centred around the point of interest.
In the properties panel, the Slice width is the total width of the slice. If the Slice width is set to 100, that is
50 units (m, ft,etc) in front of the slice plane and 50 units behind.
If you want to step with no overlap and no missed area, set the Slice width and Step size to the same
number.
The Set to dropdown allows you to set the slice to a particular easting, northing or elevation. Once an
option is selected, the value of the easting, northing or elevation can be set just below.

Viewing and Moving the Slice

The L key will move the camera to align it directly with your slicing plane. Shift+L will look at the other side
of the slice.
The slice plane can be moved by using the keyboard or the mouse: 
l With the keyboard, use the "," and "." keys to move forward and backward, respectively. Using the
comma and period keys will move the slice plane the defined step size.
l With the mouse, hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and click and drag up/down while holding
the right mouse button. This function will move the slicer plane smoothly. When moving in this way, the
Step size will determine how quickly you advance through the model when you move the mouse.

Viewing Options
Every object loaded in the scene can be sliced in different ways.
1. Click on one of the geological model volumes in the shape list.
In the shape properties panel, the Slice mode determines how the selected object interacts with the slicer:

2. Try the other options to see how they change the display of the selected volume.
3. Add the M_geology table to the scene.
4. Click on it in the shape list and set its Slice mode to Unsliced.
When you view a volume in slice view, it is opaque on the slice plane which makes it hard to assess how
the volumes relate to the drillholes. The other viewing options help to make relationships between objects
more apparent.
5. Double-click on one of the volumes in the shape list.

Double-clicking on an object in the shape list selects all similar objects. This makes it easier to perform
the same actions on all objects.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

60 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

6. Untick the Fill Slicer box in the properties panel.

The bounding triangles of the volume remain and maintain the set slice width.
7. Move the slice through the scene to see how the volumes represent the drillholes.
The slicer can also display a fully 2D section from the model.
8. Double-click one of the volumes in the shape list to select them all.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Split Views | 61

9. Click the Show faces button ( ) to display just the 2D outline of the volumes on the slicing plane:

Remember to click Show faces again so that you will be able to see your volumes in the 3D view.

Split Views
To help you take maximum advantage of Leapfrog’s 3D visual environment and stay oriented in 3D space ,
particularly when reviewing models in a 2D slice, Leapfrog offers a Split the scene view ( ) option. The
split view button in the toolbar allows you to view up to two secondary viewpoints (Plan View or Zoomed
Out) of the objects displayed in the scene.
10. While still in slice mode, use the dropdown beside the Split the scene view ( ) button to select Split
Into Three Vertically.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

62 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

11. In the new Plan View scene window, click the View unsliced ( ) button to view the location of the
slice in the overall project.

As you move the slicer through the model in the main view, you will see the slicer move in the Plan View
window.
Other options in the toolbar allow you to:
l Set the viewing window size by using the Enclose Object dropdown
l Edit the objects visible in each window independently using the Edit Visibility ( )button
l See what part of the secondary view is being displayed in the main scene view by enabling the View
window ( )
l Set independent view settings ( ), such as grid lines, axis lines and scale bar
Use the Split the scene view ( ) dropdown to select other split view options, or simply click the button
again to return to a single scene window.

Surfaces in Leapfrog Geo

As we have seen, there are a number of different ways to create a surface in Leapfrog Geo. We have
focused on creating surfaces within the Geological Models folder, where we have been using the Surface
Chronology object.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Surfaces in Leapfrog Geo | 63

When you right-click on the Surface Chronology, all the available options appear. These include deposits,
erosions, intrusions, veins, vein systems, structural surfaces and stratigraphies. It is important to remember
that even though each surface has a specific name, it is the method of surface creation that is more
important. For example, intrusion surfaces can be used when you want to create a surface surrounding a
specific lithology, and that lithology doesn’t necessarily need to be an intrusion. Likewise, a deposit or
erosion surface can be used when you want to create a surface between one lithology and a number of
other lithologies.
As a very simple example, the screenshots that follow have been taken using three lithologies; upper (red),
lower (blue) and intrusion (green). By creating and changing the settings of the geological model, we will
demonstrate how each surface type works.

First we will use an intrusion surface to represent the green intrusion. Here is the result:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

64 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Leapfrog has found the intervals where the green intrusion lithology contacts against either the red or
blue, and has put “contact points” at each contact. These contact points have a value of 0.0. Leapfrog has
also added “volume points” up and down the drillholes. As we move progressively further away from the
intrusion, the value of the volume points decreases in the negative direction. As we get further inside the
intrusion, the value of the volume points increases in the positive direction. Here is a section view of the
volume points:

Think about the actual surface as being an isosurface located in 3D space wherever a value of 0.0 exists. A
2D analogy would be isobars on an atmospheric pressure map.
Next we will look at creating a deposit surface. This works differently to the intrusion surface, as instead of
Leapfrog creating points at all contacts for a specific lithology (above and below it), it creates points either
above or below a specific lithology.
If we use the same green intrusion lithology as above but create a deposit surface rather than an intrusion
surface, we get the following (looking at the same view as the previous image).
Using “contacts above”:

And using “contacts below”:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Surfaces in Leapfrog Geo | 65

Deposit surfaces and erosion surfaces are exactly the same in the manner in which they are constructed,
but differ in the manner in which they are cut against other surfaces to form volumes. Erosion surfaces act
as unconformities, so “cut” any surfaces they cross. Deposit surfaces act as depositional layers, so “stack”
on top of any surfaces they cross.
For a simple demonstration, the contact between the upper (red) and lower (blue) lithologies has been
modelled using both erosion and deposit surfaces, and the interaction between these surfaces and the
intrusion surface when all are activated and turned into volumes becomes apparent (noting that the
erosion and deposit surfaces are exactly the same shape).
Here are the surfaces shown in section view:

With the deposit surface and intrusion surface activated:

With the erosion surface and intrusion surface activated:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

66 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

You can see the difference between the two images; in the top image the upper layer is a deposit, so stacks
on top of the green intrusion. The the bottom image the upper layer is an erosion, so cuts across the green
intrusion.
Remember that there are a huge number of options available when creating surfaces. We will discuss
these options as we move through the training course, and the above example is only a simple
demonstration of the most basic surfacing options.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 6: Dynamic Updating
Contents
Adding New Drillhole Data 67
Appending Drillhole Data 67
Updating the Geological Model Extents 69
Examining the Geological Model 70
Evaluating the New Model Against the Original 72
Polylines in Leapfrog 74
Editing a Surface Using Polylines 75
Introducing Central 85

Goals
In this session, we will append drillhole data by adding in a new drilling campaign. We will create an
updated geological model and check the updated model against the original.
At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
l Appending drillhole data
l Using a query filter
l Copying a geological model
l Evaluating a new model against the original
l Editing with polylines
The data for this session is in the Sessions \ Session 3 to 10 - Maia folder.
This session continues to use the Maia project from the previous sessions.

Adding New Drillhole Data

One of the main advantages of Leapfrog is its ability to dynamically update your models when new data is
introduced into the project. When it comes to drillholes, there are two options for introducing new data,
reloading data and appending data. The one you choose depends on what data your new data table
contains.
Reload data (Drillholes > Reload Drillholes) when the new data table contains not only the new drillhole
information to be added to the project, but also the drillhole data that already exists within the Leapfrog
project. If you are exporting from your database a cumulative drillhole table that contains all the drillholes,
use the reload option.
Append data (Drillholes > Append Drillholes) is used when the new data table contains only brand new
drillhole data that Leapfrog has not seen before. This is the option we are going to use in this project.

Appending Drillhole Data

1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).

© 2018 Seequent Limited

68 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

2. Right-click on the Drillholes object in the project tree and select Append Drillholes:

3. Click Browse to locate the collar file for the MA campaign.

4. Select the MA_collar.csv file and click Open.
All the required files have been added to the window:

5. Click Import.
When appending data, we need to check that the new data aligns with that already in the project. The
Column Summary for each file will show the columns and how each column will be imported. In Session
3: Importing Drillhole Data, we changed the import parameters to use the UTM columns rather than the
Local Easting and Northing columns. Note that for the collar table, the changes we made are being carried
through to the import of the new tables:

It is imperative that your new data tables contain the same columns as the originally imported ones.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Updating the Geological Model Extents | 69

You are unable to add any “new” columns at this stage.

6. Work through the files, then select Finish.

Your drillhole data will now contain information from both drilling campaigns. Because Leapfrog works in
a top-down manner, the geological model that is dependent on the drillhole data will also be updated
when the drillhole data is appended.

Updating the Geological Model Extents

Although the geological model in this project has been updated with the new drillhole data, the model’s
extents remain those set when the model was created. We will change the extents for the model.
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Add the M_geology table to the scene.
3. Add the existing geological model to the scene.
You will see that a number of the drillholes are visible outside the extents of the geological model:

4. Double-click on the Boundary object under the geological model.

5. Click the Enclose Object dropdown, and select the M_geology table.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

70 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

In the scene, the boundary will be extended so it encloses the updated M_geology data. You will see in the
scene that the Boundary with red arrows has expanded to include the new drillholes.

6. Click OK.
You will notice that even though the model is re-processing, its surfaces have not left the scene. These
original model meshes will remain in the scene while in the queue for processing, and will only clear while
actively being processed. Out-of-date objects waiting to be processed are displayed in the project tree
with their names greyed out. Once the model has been reprocessed, it will extend to the edges of the new
boundary:

Examining the Geological Model

While Leapfrog automatically updates models, it doesn’t do the same for the geological interpretation.
Once the project has been updated, we need to see whether or not the updated model fits our original
interpretations for both the Quartz Porphyry and the Granodiorite.
To examine your Quartz Porphyry (QzP) unit:
1. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
2. Add the M_geology table to the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Examining the Geological Model | 71

3. Click Edit Colours and keep the QzP lithology visible, but turn the others off:

4. Add the QzP output volume to the scene.

5. Double-click on the QzP surface in the project tree.
6. Click on the Trend tab, then click View Plane.
This displays the trend that is applied to the surface in the scene:

7. Examine the volume to ensure it still honours the drillhole data, and that the trend that was set earlier is
still suitable.
8. If you are happy with your original interpretation, click Cancel to exit.
9. If you feel that the new data would be better interpreted with a different orientation trend, adjust the
surface by either:
l Clicking on the plane to manually adjust using the handles or
l Drawing a new plane with the Draw Plane tool ( ).
10. Once you’ve set the plane, click the Set From Plane button and then click OK.
The Quartz Porphyry surface will be updated with the new trend.
11. Repeat the above steps for the Granodiorite (GnD) unit.
12. Clear the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

72 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Evaluating the New Model Against the Original

A useful feature when appending drillhole data is being able to evaluate a new model against the original.
This helps you gain a better understanding of the difference any new drilling has made.
The first step of this process is being able to distinguish the original drilling campaign from the new one.
To do this we need to create a query filter, which we will base on the names of the drilling campaigns.
To create a query filter:
1. Right-click on the collar table and select New Query Filter:

2. In the New Query Filter window, click the ... button.

This opens the Build Query window:

3. Click on the dropdown arrow labelled Column, and select collar.holeid:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Evaluating the New Model Against the Original | 73

4. Change the Test value to starts with, and type ‘M0’ (using the number 0, not the letter O) for the Value:

5. Click OK.
6. Back in the New Query Filter window, enter the name holeid LIKE ‘M0%’ and click OK.
7. Add the M_geology table to the scene.
8. Select the table in the shape list.
9. In the properties panel, select the new filter from the Query filter list:

The drillhole traces for all drillholes will still be visible, but only the intervals from the original M campaign
are displayed.
10. To filter out the drillhole trace lines as well, tick the Filter trace lines box.
You can display the whole drillhole dataset by selecting None from the Query filter dropdown list in the
properties panel.
Next, we will make a copy of the geological model.
11. Right-click on the geological model in the project tree and select Copy.
12. In the window that appears, name the new model “Maia M Campaign GM”.

13. Click OK.

In addition to the Copy option, there is also a Static Copy option. When you copy a geological model, it
remains dynamic, meaning that any time data is added, changed or deleted in your project, the model will
be updated. However, if you create a static copy, it will not change at all, no matter what happens to the
data in the project. A static copy is a good way to track changes to your model over time.
Next, we will use the query filter to re-create the original geological model.
14. Double-click on the Maia M Campaign GM.
15. Enable the Filter Data option.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

74 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The Query Filter default should be the M0 filter:

16. Click OK.

To compare the new and original geological models:
17. Click the Clear scene button ( ).
18. Add the Quartz Porphyry (QzP) volume from the updated model to the scene.
19. Add the QzP volume from the Maia M campaign GM.
20. Differentiate the GM model volume from the original volume by either turning on the show edges
option or changing the transparency of one of the volumes:

We can easily see the difference the additional drilling has made to the size and shape of the QzP volume.
This view also shows that to the north east of the model , the QzP intrusion has an ‘elbow’ which may not
be realistically modelled. By inspecting the drilling surrounding this area, we can see that the default
surface runs between drillholes, some with QzP in them, and two drillholes with intervals that have not
been logged. To edit this surface, we will use polylines.

Polylines in Leapfrog
Polylines in Leapfrog Geo are very versatile. You can create 2D lines, 3D lines and points, which can be
drawn on the slicer or directly on objects. Lines can be straight segments or can be curved; curved

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Editing a Surface Using Polylines | 75

polylines are recommended as they allow for more realistic-looking results.

A video describing the functionality can be found here in the training section on MyLeapfrog, or on the
training data USB stick.

Editing a Surface Using Polylines

In this part of the session, we are going to use polylines to edit the QzP surface. We are going to use three
different approaches:
l Drawing a 2D polyline drawn on the slicer
l Drawing points on the slicer
l Drawing directly on the surface

Drawing a 2D Line on the Slicer

In this part of the session, we are going to edit the QzP surface with a 2D polyline drawn on the slicer.
1. Clear the scene.
2. Add the QzP surface ( ) for the Maia Geological Model (not the output volume) to the scene.
We are going to draw a slice through the surface, then edit the surface with a polyline.
3. Orient the scene to draw a slice through the surface.
4. Use the slicer to slice through the surface:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

76 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

5. Set the slicer to Thick slice ( ):

6. Right-click on the surface in the project tree and select Edit > With Polyline:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drawing a 2D Line on the Slicer | 77

The polyline editing tools will be added to the toolbar:

This toolbar will appear whenever you create or edit a polyline, whether that is by editing a surface or by
creating the polyline using the Polylines folder.
7. Hold the mouse cursor over each icon to become familiar with the functionality of each tool.
The Draw lines ( ) and Draw points ( ) tools are used to create new lines and points. The tools in the
second row are for controlling whether the polyline is drawn (on the slicer ( ) or on surfaces ( )). In this
instance, drawing on the slicer ( ) has automatically been selected because the slicer was already in the
scene.
The Select dropdown list lets you select different parts of the polyline.
The other tools:
l Make segments straight ( ) or curved ( )
l Add nodes ( )
l Add or reorient tangents ( )
l Flip selected tangents and disks ( )
l Add disks ( )
l Convert a 2D polyline to 3D ( )
l Set the slicer to a 2D polyline ( )
There are also buttons for undoing ( ) and redoing actions ( ), as well as saving the polyline ( ) or
deleting selected parts of it ( ).

There is a list of polyline drawing hot keys on the data stick that was provided with this course.

8. To start drawing, click on the Draw polyline button ( ).

© 2018 Seequent Limited

78 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Once you select a tool to start drawing, instructions on how to use the tool will appear in the upper left
hand corner of the scene window:

9. Click in the scene to add nodes at the top and bottom of the curve in the QzP surface:

10. Right-click to finish drawing.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drawing a 2D Line on the Slicer | 79

This forms a straight segment. Notice that a tangent (the green circle) is automatically added on the first
node. This is oriented in the direction of the camera, and if you rotate the scene, you can see that it is a
cone:

Notice also that a ribbon has appeared along the line. This shows the polarity of the line, that is, which side
is the inside and which side is the outside. The colour of the polarity ribbon should match the colours of
the inside and outside of your Porphyry surface:

The polyline has three colours: the colour of the inside (positive), the colour of the outside (negative) and
the colour of the line itself. in this case, the inside is the Porphyry lithology (yellow) and the outside is the
Unknown lithology (white).
11. Click on the Select tool ( ).

© 2018 Seequent Limited

80 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

12. Click near the middle of the drawn segment and drag it to change the segment’s curve:

13. Click on the bezier points to adjust the curve:

If the bezier points are not visible, click on the polyline in the shape list and enable the Show bezier control
points option in the properties panel.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drawing a 2D Line on the Slicer | 81

Although you can make the line curved while adding nodes, an easy way to draw a curved polyline is to
simply click to add a series of points. Set the curvature of the whole line by selecting all segments and
then clicking the Make selected segments curved button ( ):

You can then make any adjustments to the curves required by dragging the segments or using the
bezier control points.

14. To check the polyline against the original surface, remove the slicer from the scene:

15. Edit the polyline further, if necessary.

16. When you have finished, click the Save button ( ) to see how the polyline affects the surface.
In the project tree, the polyline is saved as part of the QzP surface:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

82 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

To edit the polyline, right-click on it in the project tree and select Edit Polyline. If the polyline is in the
shape list, click on the Edit button ( ):

You can copy a polyline by right-clicking on it and selecting Copy. If the polyline is in the Polylines folder,
its copy will be saved to the Polylines folder. If the polyline was created as part of the another object, its
copy will be saved to the Polylines folder.
17. Copy the polyline by right-clicking on it and selecting Copy.
18. In the window that appears, enter the name ‘QzP-line on slicer’ and click OK.
The copy will be saved in the Polylines folder.

Drawing Points on the Slicer

For this part of the session, we will edit the QzP surface with the Draw points tool ( ).
1. Expand the QzP surface in the project tree.
2. Right-click on the QzP polyline and select Delete:

A window will appear showing the objects that will be affected when the polyline is deleted:

3. Confirm the deletion of the polyline by clicking Delete.

Note, if we later decide that we liked the edits made to the QzP surface with this polyline better, we can
add it to our surface again by using the copy that we made to the Polylines folder.
4. Right-click on the QzP surface in the project tree and select Edit > With Polyline.
5. Draw a slice where you are going to edit the surface.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drawing in 3D on a Surface | 83

6. Type ‘L’ to look at the slicing plane.

7. Zoom in to the righthand side of the surface and click on the Draw points tool ( ).
8. Click the Draw on slicer button ( ) in the toolbar.
9. Click to add a series of points where you want the surface to go:

10. When you have finished, click the Save button ( ).

11. Remove the slicer from the scene to see the results:

Drawing in 3D on a Surface
For this part of the session, we will edit the QzP surface with a new 3D polyline drawn directly on the
surface.
1. Clear the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

84 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

2. Right-click on the QzP polyline in the project tree and select Share:

The QzP polyline will now also appear in the Polylines folder:

Sharing polylines between models can be a useful workflow to make identical changes to surfaces
existing in more than one model. The edits made to a shared polyline will be simultaneously updated in
all of the surfaces using that polyline.

In this case, a copy of the polyline has been made in the Polylines folder and the version on the QzP
surface has been hyperlinked to that version.
3. Right-click on the QzP polyline in the Polylines folder and select Rename.
4. Change the name of the polyline to ‘QzP-points on slicer’.
Note that the hyperlink to the polyline attached to the QzP surface has also been renamed.
We can now remove the polyline from the model’s surface and still have the option of adding it back to our
surface later.
5. Right-click on the hyperlink to the polyline in the QzP surface and select Remove:

Because this is a hyperlink to the polyline in the Polylines folder, removing it from the surface has no effect
on other objects in the project.
6. Add the QzP surface to the scene.
7. Zoom in the part of the surface we will edit with the new polyline.
8. Right-click on the QzP surface and select Edit > With Polyline.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Introducing Central | 85

Because the slicer isn’t in the scene, the Draw on objects mode ( ) is selected.
9. Click on the Draw polyline button ( ) and click to add nodes and set the curve of the polyline, as
described earlier:

10. Right-click to end the polyline.

11. Click Save.
If the resulting surface is distorted, check the surface ribbon to ensure each part of the polyline is oriented
correctly. For example, here we can see that the segment is not oriented correctly:

12. Double-click on the segment to select the whole segment.

13. Click on the Flip button ( ).
14. Save the polyline.

Introducing Central
Central is a model management solution that’s designed to manage your team’s geological data from a
centralised, auditable environment. This allows you to visualise and track how geological interpretations
change over time and enables your team to make confident decisions, when it matters most.

Benefits
l Single source - Central holds all your geological modelling projects in one place. This infrastructure
includes version control, user permissions, and the ability to track and audit the decision making

© 2018 Seequent Limited

86 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

process at any time.

l Connectivity - No matter where you are in the world, in an office or at a mine site, always stay
connected to your team and the same source of knowledge. Gather insights into project changes
when you need to.
l Collaboration - Discuss and explore different geological interpretations with members of your team.
Share a detailed history of the model with management and other project stakeholders.

Bring your global team together

Geologists:
l Track and understand how interpretations change as new data becomes available
l Publish Leapfrog models to a secure, central data source
l Experiment with different hypotheses
l Submit models for peer review
Managers:
l Be confident that everyone is working from an auditable, single source of truth
l Manage the peer review process directly from Central Browser
l Understand how and why models have changed
l Communicate directly with geologists by using annotations
l Visualise the evolution of the model over time
Stakeholders:
l Access the latest data
l Understand key developments in the project
l See how additional data changes the model
l Export the latest data for use downstream
Learn more about Central here or contact us to schedule a demo or find out more.
Check out the exciting new features in the latest version here.
See how Cameco Corporation is using Central to collaboratively work on their projects and integrate
decades worth of data into modern decision making here.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Exercise 1: Weathering Model and Combined
Models
Contents
Importing Additional Interval Tables 87
Creating a Weathering Model 88
Creating a New Combined Model 90
Finding Volumes 92

Goals
For this exercise, we will create a weathering model for the Maia dataset. We will need to import an
additional interval table for this exercise. Then, we will combine the Weathering and Maia geological
models to create a combined model.
The data for this exercise is in the Exercises \ Exercise 1 - Weathering folder.

Importing Additional Interval Tables

There are two files to import, called M_weathering.csv and MA_weathering.csv.
1. Right-click on the Drillholes in the project tree, select Import From File > Interval Values:

2. Browse to find the M_weathering.csv table, and click Open.

The import window will open.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

88 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Click on the Not Imported label above the weathering column and select Category.

4. Click Finish.
A new M_weathering table has been added to the project tree. Next, we need to append the MA_
weathering table with the data for the MA campaign.
5. Right-click on the M_weathering table in the project tree and select Append Data.

6. Browse to find the MA_weathering.csv table, and click Open.

The column type has already been mapped for the weathering column.
7. Click Finish.

Creating a Weathering Model

8. Clear the scene.
9. Create a new geological model using weathering for the Base lithology column.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a Weathering Model | 89

10. Drop the resolution down as appropriate, limit the extent of the surfaces to the drilling, and name the
model “Maia Weathering Model”.

11. Visualise the drilling in 3D to get an idea of the volumes the volumes that need to be modelled:

12. Decide on the best method of creating the two required surfaces; there are a couple different
possibilities.
Once the surfaces have been created, activate them in the Surface Chronology and make sure they are in
the correct order to reflect their cutting relationships.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

90 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Creating a New Combined Model

To create a new Combined Model:
1. Clear the scene.
2. Right-click on Combined Models in the project tree and select New Combined Model:

There will be three models available to combine, the weathering model, the full geological model, and the
geological model using only the M campaign.
3. Select the weathering model and the full geological model, then click OK.

A window will appear with a set of check boxes relating to volumes in each model.
4. Select the Dike, Quartz Porphyry (QzP) and Granodiorite (GnD), as well as each of the weathering units,
and click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a New Combined Model | 91

The combined model may take a few minutes to process, depending on your computer’s processing
speed. Look in the combined model’s Output Volumes folder to see the volumes that are still being
processed:

Note that each geological volume has been split into three subunits representing each weathering type.
5. Clear the scene.
6. Add the model to the scene and enable its legend.
7. Add the slicer to the scene and set it to slice the north axis ( ):

© 2018 Seequent Limited

92 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Finding Volumes
To find the volume for a specific combination of volumes, right-click on the item of interest, then click
Properties. The volume as well as a number of other properties are listed.

It’s also possible to determine the volume of an output volume by clicking on it in the scene window.
Information about the selected object is displayed:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 7: Presentation and Sharing Tools
Contents
Rendering Images 93
Sharing Scenes with View 94
Saving and Exporting Scenes 96
Using the Leapfrog Viewer 97
Creating Movies 99

Goals
In this session, we will explain how to use display features in Leapfrog for report writing or presentation
purposes, and how to share project scenes with your stakeholders.
At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
l Rendering images
l Sharing scenes with View
l Saving and exporting scenes
l Using the Leapfrog Viewer
l Creating movies
For this session we will use the Maia project from the earlier sessions.

Rendering Images
Any scene in Leapfrog, including split view scenes, can be rendered as either a png or jpg image. To
access this feature, click on the Render Image ( ) button in the toolbar, beside the Upload to View button.
There are a few main features to note:
l The number of pixels along the x and y axis of the image can be changed to a maximum of 40,000 x
10,000. The image’s proportions can be retained by leaving the Keep aspect box ticked.
l By turning supersampling on, jagged edges caused by pixels will be smoothed. The highest option
(4x4) will take longer to process than the lowest option (2x2) or keeping supersampling off.
l Overlays such as the scale bar and grid lines can be turned on or off.
l When split view is being used, there is also a Render View dropdown which allows you to define which
of the split scenes are rendered.
After any change is made, the Render button ( ) needs to be clicked for the image to be updated.
Once the image has been rendered, it can be copied for pasting into a report or presentation, or saved in
both png and jpg formats. In general, png is better for images with few colours, like a geological model,
and jpg is better for images with many colours, like aerial photographs.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

94 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Sharing Scenes with View

View is a web-based model sharing platform that allows you to visualise 3D models, share them with
collaborators, and discuss the data all in one online view. Scenes from Leapfrog Geo can be uploaded to
View for sharing with the click of a button.

Uploading to View
1. Add a few objects of interest into the scene.
2. Click the Upload to View ( ) button in the upper right-hand corner of the scene.
To use View for the first time, you must enter your My Leapfrog ID and click Login. Click Remember Me to
skip this step in the future.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Viewing in View | 95

If you don’t already have an account, click Register and follow the steps. Once you’re logged in you will
notice your ID in the top right-hand corner.

3. In the Upload to View window, ensure the objects you want to upload are selected, give the view a Title
and a Description if you’d like.

4. Click Upload.

While it may appear like nothing happens when you click Upload, the view is uploading.

Viewing in View
Once the upload is completed, a message will appear in the lower right hand corner of the Leapfrog Geo
window.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

96 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

1. To view the scene immediately, click the link, otherwise, the scene can be viewed any time by logging
into View online.
2. Open your new view and review it.

To learn more about how to use View, click here.

3. Once you have explored View, close your browser and return to Leapfrog Geo.

Saving and Exporting Scenes

Using the data we currently have loaded in the scene view, we will review saving, and exporting scene files
for use in the Leapfrog Viewer.
1. Click the Edit Colours button for the table and use the visible buttons ( ) to make all lithologies visible.
2. Save the scene by right-clicking on the Saved Scenes and Movies folder in the project tree, and
selecting Save Current Scene.
It’s also possible to add a Save current scene button in the toolbar. To do this, click on the Leapfrog Geo
menu and select Settings. Click on User Interface and tick the box for Show Save Scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Using the Leapfrog Viewer | 97

3. Add a description to the scene and change its name:

Scenes are listed in the project tree in alphabetical order so using a number followed by a description
to name them will ensure they are listed correctly.

4. Click OK.
5. Clear the scene.
6. Add the saved scene back into the scene.
Note that saving a scene saves all the object settings, such as the viewing angle, how the slicer was set up
and the different transparency settings on the objects.

A good habit to get into is to save scenes as you progress through a model, describing the steps that
were taken to build it, and pointing out important or interesting features of the model.

7. Build another three or four scenes describing the steps taken to build the model:

Using the Leapfrog Viewer

Once scenes have been saved in your Leapfrog project, you can export them and open them in the
Leapfrog Viewer, which is free software available on the Leapfrog3D website. With the Leapfrog Viewer,
you can rotate, zoom, slice, change the transparency and view the details (volume etc) of each object in
the saved scene.
If you have Leapfrog Viewer installed on your computer, you can work through the following steps.
1. Right-click on the Saved Scenes and Movies folder and select Export Scenes.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

98 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

2. Select the scenes you would like to export by dragging them into the Selected scenes panel:

There are two settings that determine how data is exported:

The Export hidden shapes option exports any shapes that are in the scene but invisible at the time the
scene was saved.
The Export shapes only and Export all data that appears when I click options determine what data is
displayed in the scene when an object is clicked on. That data displayed when the Export all data that
appears when I click option is the volume, area, elevation, and location. These are not displayed when
Export shapes only is selected.
3. Choose the options you would like, and click Export.
4. Enter a file name, and click Save.
5. Open the Leapfrog Viewer, and navigate to your exported saved scenes to open them.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Movies | 99

6. Once you’re done in Leapfrog Viewer, reopen your Maia project in Leapfrog Geo.

Creating Movies
Movies are a great way of displaying your model at a conference or presentation. In Leapfrog, movies can
be created by adding saved scenes to a storyboard, then editing the transitions between each scene.
When setting up the scenes you will use to make the movie, remember that one scene will rotate/fade into
the next, so it is useful to imagine what the transitions will look like before saving your scenes.
1. Right-click on the Saved Scenes and Movies folder in the project tree and select New Movie.
A new tab will appear next to the Projects and Scene View tabs at the top of the screen:

The Saved Scenes list shows all the available scenes.

2. Double-click on each scene to add it to the Storyboard at the bottom of the tab.
When there is more than one saved scene in the storyboard, transitions will also appear in the storyboard.
3. Click on a scene or transition in the Storyboard to view and adjust its properties.
4. Once the movie has been completed, click the Save and Export button in the toolbar.
There are several options for export; the quality can be anywhere from HD (1920x1080) to lower quality,
the number of frames per second can be changed, and whether or not to export frame images (for import
to an external movie editing package) can be selected.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

© 2018 Seequent Limited
Session 8: Numeric Modelling
Contents
Modelling Approach 101
Iterative Refinement 101
Numeric Drillhole Data 102
Importing and Exporting Colour Gradients 106
Merged Tables 107
Creating Composites Directly from Drillholes 111
Creating a First Pass Gold Numeric Model 115
Copying a Numeric Model, and Clipping to a Domain 126
Numeric Model Statistics 131

Numeric models are created in Leapfrog Geo by interpolating sparsely distributed data to build
representative surfaces across a region. Assay data, temperature values, geophysical data or any other
numeric data can be interpolated. Interpolation in Leapfrog is fast and flexible, and the shells produced
to represent mineralisation are smoother and more reproducible than traditional hand-drawn meshes.
This session contains a relatively large amount of theoretical background. To understand how
Leapfrog creates numeric models, we will need to introduce basic interpolation and geostatistics
concepts.
For this session, we will be using the project used for the Maia sessions.

Modelling Approach
A numeric model can be built in four steps from any data that contains points with X,Y,Z coordinates and
an associated numeric value.
l The first step is to clean the drillhole data by removing inconsistencies in the data. This can be a time-
consuming process with some data sets, but it is critical as the quality of any model ultimately depends
on the quality of the data. For this session, the data was cleaned in the first Maia session so we can
proceed to the next step.
l The second step is to select the numeric values and apply appropriate parameters to the values. A
numeric model estimates the values over a region from an initial set of point values. The numeric values
can be selected directly as points if they have been imported into the Points folder. If you are creating
your numeric model from drillhole data, Leapfrog will allow you to select the segments used to
generate points. When you are adjusting the model later on, you can work directly with point values.
l The third step is to apply a trend. A trend allows the directions and strength of mineralisation to be
defined to ensure the resulting numeric model is geologically reasonable. Adding a global or structural
trend will alter the isosurfaces. It should be adjusted to ensure these honour the expected
mineralisation patterns. This is where we will initially direct our focus in this session.
l The final step, while equally important to all the others, is to determine how the isosurfaces are
bounded and calculate the volume of each isosurface.

Iterative Refinement
Building a numeric model is a process of successive refinement. This involves:
l Defining the numeric model and basic structures. This usually corresponds to defining the topography
and boundaries.
l Refining the internal structure. This involves setting the proper trends and making manual corrections
to the point and value data until the resulting surfaces are geologically realistic.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

102 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Numeric Drillhole Data

Up to this point, we have worked with category data (lithology, weathering). Many of the visualisation tools
available in the shape list and properties panel for numeric data are the same as for categorical data, but
there are a couple of additional tools.

Colourmaps
With numeric data, you have the option of Continuous or Discrete colourmaps. While a continuous
colourmap is the default, in this session, we will focus on creating a discrete colourmap.
1. Clear the scene.
2. Add the M_assays table to the scene and select the Au column.
3. In the shape list, click on the Au colourmap and select Edit Colourmaps:

The default continuous colourmap will open in the window:

You can experiment with changes in this window and you will see them update live in the scene.
4. To create a new discrete colourmap, click New.
5. Select Discrete colourmap, give it a name and click Create.
Intervals can be added manually by clicking Add, or automatically by clicking Generate Intervals.
To manually add intervals:
l Click Add to add as many colour ranges as you’d like.
l Change the value in the Max column and the Min column will update accordingly.
l Click on the ≤ sign to switch the greater than/less than/equal to status.
l Click the colour swatch to change the colour.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Colourmaps | 103

Note that the scene will be updated as you make changes to the colourmap:

To auto-generate intervals based on statistics:

l Click Generate Intervals.
l Select the Interval Mode and Number of Intervals you would like.
l Select an appropriate Colour Gradient.

For a description of the different Interval Modes, see the Discrete Colourmaps topic in the online
help.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

104 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

6. When satisfied with your colourmap, click Close.

You only have to set up this colour scheme once per column and you can then export and share it
between projects. See Importing and Exporting Colour Files in Session 3: Importing Drillhole Data for
more information.

Cylinder Radius Scaling

As we’ve seen, numeric data columns in drillhole data can be displayed as lines or cylinders. When
displayed as cylinders, the radius of the cylinders can be set from a numeric data column in the table,
either the same one being displayed, or a different one.
1. If you’re not already, display the M_assays table using the cylinders ( ).
2. In the properties panel, use the Radius values drop down to display by Au.
3. Click the Use log value for radius button ( ) to get a more useful display.

If we had an additional value in the dataset, like Cu, we could display the Au values in scene, scaled by the
Cu values.

Downhole Graphs
In addition to viewing numeric data by numeric-scaled cylinder radius, it can also be viewed as a
downhole graph, alongside categorical data. This tool allows you to view 2 columns of downhole data
simultaneously. Right now we will view the lithology data together with the Au assay data. This
visualisation capability can be helpful for familiarising yourself with your data, drawing correlations
between different datasets (e.g. rock type and grade), and assisting with modelling interpretations.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Enhance High Values | 105

1. Clear the scene.

2. Drag the M_geology table into the scene.
3. Double-click the Drillhole Graphs object in the project tree.
4. In the Drillhole Graph Style Manager window, select the Au column from the M_assays table.
5. Down the right-hand side of the window, make any Position and Size, Colouring or Numeric Display
Range changes you would like.

If you have downhole points in your project, they can also be displayed alongside the drill trace. Below
is an example of LAS point data displayed as a downhole graph:

Enhance High Values

Frequently it is hard to visualise your high grade zones in drillholes if your project is well drilled off. It’s
typically a lot of low values on the outside obscuring a higher grade core.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

106 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

To help visualise your high grade trends, click use the Enhance High Values button ( ) in the shape list:

The images below show the same drillholes, but the higher values are enhanced in the image on the right
(image for demonstration purposes only):

Filtering Values in the Properties Panel

When numeric data is displayed, there is a quick and easy way to view specific ranges of data.
1. Click on the M_assay table in the shape list to view more detail in the properties panel.
2. In the properties panel, tick the Value Filter box.
3. Enter the range of values you wish to display.

Importing and Exporting Colour Gradients

The Colour Gradients folder near the bottom of the project tree is used for storing imported colour
gradients. Built-in colour gradients from projects created in Leapfrog Geo versions prior to 4.4 are also
automatically stored in the Colour Gradients folder, as the built-in colour gradients were updated in
Leapfrog Geo 4.4.
To import a gradient, right-click on the Colour Gradients folder and select Import Gradient.
A useful article on colourmaps is available at http://peterkovesi.com/projects/colourmaps/. Existing
colourmaps can be downloaded from this website in ERMapper (*.lut), Geosoft (*.tbl) and Golden Software
Surfer (*.clr) formats.
Once the new colour gradient is in Leapfrog, it can be assigned to any object in the project that uses a
continuous colourmap. Click Edit Colourmaps in the shape list:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Merged Tables | 107

In the Edit Colourmaps window, all colour gradients in the project area available from the Gradient list:

Merged Tables
A good way to find out which lithologies are important to the mineralisation is by creating a merged table.
1. Right-click on the Drillholes object in the project tree and click New Merged Table:.

2. Select the assay table, and the Strat column:

3. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

108 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

4. Right-click on the new merged table in the project tree and select Statistics.
5. Select the Table of Statistics option:

6. Under Categories, click Add and use the dropdown list to select the Strat column.
7. Check the box for Au and Interval Length in the Numeric items list.
8. To get a more useful view, choose the Group by numeric item radio button.
9. Hide the empty categories and inactive rows.

There are a number of useful statistics in this table. By default they are length-weighted. First, we can see
the total interval length of each lithology. This can be useful when there are hundreds of codes that require
grouping. By sorting the list based on interval length, it is easy to start eliminating the irrelevant codes from
the grouping. Second, we can sort the columns based on numerical values.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Merged Tables | 109

10. To first ensure that you are looking at all of the data, confirm that the Query filter is set to <None>.

11. Click the Mean heading to sort based on gold grade:

We can quickly see the lithologies that contain higher gold grade, as well as those with less. The lithology
with the highest grade is the Quartz porphyry (QzP), and the lowest grades are found in the Granodiorite
(GnD).
If you prefer to view these statistics in a more graphic format, box plots provide a great visualisation of the
differences between different units.
12. Right-click on your merged table in the project tree and select Statistics.
13. This time, click on Box Plot:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

110 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The Box Plot tab will open.

14. Select Au for the Numeric column.
15. Select Strat for the Category column.
16. Then click on Select All or simply check the boxes of the lithological units of interest:

The Box Plot defaults to show the minimum/maximum extents of the numeric data with the whiskers. The
black line represents the median value, the red diamond is the mean, and the coloured region represents
the interquartile range.
It becomes obvious that most of the lithologies are barren. We will take this into account when
compositing in Leapfrog.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Composites Directly from Drillholes | 111

The intervals of a merged table are dependent on the selected columns’ interval breaks. The merged
table interval will be the longest possible interval that is shared by all selected columns. Where the ends
of interval don’t align, small intervals will be created. For example, if an assay interval is 10-12m and has
a value of 0.563, but there is a lithology code change at 11m, a merged table will present this as follows: 
l 10-11m, Lithology A, Au 0.563
l 11-12m, Lithology B, Au 0.563
In many cases, this doubling up of the assay values is not ideal. To deal with this issue, you can create a
New Majority Composite table based on the assay intervals, and merge that new table with the assay
table. This approach will not result in any split assays.

Creating Composites Directly from Drillholes

Prior to compositing, we can review the sample interval lengths in the project.
1. Right-click on the M_assay table and select Statistics.
2. Click on the Interval Length Statistics option.

We can immediately see that the majority of our samples are 2.5 metres long. We will use this information
later when we’re choosing our composite lengths.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

112 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

It is possible to create a set of composited drillholes directly from drillholes. To do this, we go directly to the
Drillholes folder. This folder gives us more options, including whether to composite over the entire
drillhole or only within a particular lithology. Once the composite has been completed, it can be used to
create a numeric model.
3. Right-click on the Composites folder (under the Drillholes folder) and select New Numeric
Composite:

There are four compositing options:

l Entire drillhole applies compositing parameters to all values down the length of the drillhole,
regardless of unit breaks.
l Subset of codes, grouped combines selected codes and applied the same compositing parameters to
the grouped intervals. If all codes are selected, this option is exactly the same as Entire drillhole.
l Subset of codes, ungrouped lets you set compositing parameters for each individual code, based on a
Base column. This allows compositing to break along unit breaks.
l Intervals from table uses interval lengths from the Base table to determine composite lengths.
In addition to specifying the desired composite region and length, there are also 3 options for handling
residual segments of lengths less than a specified cut-off:
l Discard
l Add to previous interval
l Distribute equally

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Composites Directly from Drillholes | 113

For more details regarding compositing, click here.

4. Select Subset of codes, ungrouped.

This option provides maximum compositing flexibility.
5. Ensure the Base column is Strat.
By default, the Compositing Length is set to 10 and the Minimum Coverage is set to 5.
Compositing length will vary on a number of factors, including the deposit style, mining method and raw
sample length. In general, high grade underground mines will require a shorter sample length compared
to bulk open pit mines. The other point to note is that, if possible, samples shouldn’t be “split”. For example,
if most intervals have a 2 m sample length, choosing a composite of 1 m or 5 m will split the intervals, which
will artificially reduce variance as an interval with a single value will be represented in more than one
composite. In this case, we will change the composite length to 5 m, as the raw interval lengths are mostly
2.5 m so the intervals aren’t being split. A composite of 5 m is also reasonable for the deposit style we are
working with in this case. We could also choose another multiple of 2.5 for our composite length,
depending on the needs for model use.
6. Change the Default Compositing Length to 5.
This will apply the length to all codes.
Minimum Coverage determines what to do at the end of code intervals or at the end of the drillhole when
the Discard option is chosen. For example, if the total length of drilling is 181 m and we are compositing to
5 m lengths, our composites will go from 0 m - 5 m, then 5 m - 10 m etc. When we get to the bottom of the
hole, the last composite will be 175 m to 180 m. There is one metre left over, so the specified length of the
Minimum Coverage defines the manner in which Leapfrog treats this last section. The Minimum

© 2018 Seequent Limited

114 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Coverage parameter only applies when the Discard option is chosen, if either of the other two residual
handling options are selected, the minimum coverage field isn’t available.
7. In this project, we will select the Distribute equally option, using the dropdown.

8. Set this For ends lengths less than: 1.25.

Regarding the Action column, there are three options:
l Composite, which is self-explanatory
l Filter Out, where all values for the filtered out code will be removed from the composited table
l No Compositing, where all values for the No Compositing code will retain their original interval
lengths within the composited table
9. For the Casing unit, select Filter Out:

Values existing in the Casing unit will NOT be included in the new composited table.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a First Pass Gold Numeric Model | 115

10. Click on the Output Columns tab, and select Au:

11. Give the new table an appropriate name, click OK.

Creating a First Pass Gold Numeric Model

It is a good idea to run a quick numeric model through numeric data to check how the isosurfaces behave.
Once this is done, we can go ahead and create a numeric model with full knowledge of the data.
1. Right-click on the Numeric Models folder in the project tree and select New RBF Interpolant.
The New RBF Interpolant window will appear, with a few basic options for defining the model.
2. Set Numeric values to the Au column from the composited table.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

116 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Click Existing model boundary or volume and select the Maia Geological Model Boundary object.

4. Leave the Surface Filter box ticked.

5. Change the resolution to 20.

6. Click OK
7. Clear the scene.
8. Once the model has been processed, add it to the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Outputs Tab | 117

As you would expect for a first pass model created without changing any parameters, it is unrealistic:

We will change a few of the more important parameters and check how they change the numeric model.
9. Double-click on the Au numeric model ( ) in the project tree.
This opens the Edit RBF Interpolant window.
We will start by creating a numeric model for the entire area, then look at creating a model within the
Quartz porphyry (QzP), which is the major mineralised lithology.
For the first model, we will change parameters in the Outputs, Interpolant and Value Transform tabs.
When we create the second model within the QzP, we will also look at the Value, Boundary and Trend
tabs.

Outputs Tab
The Outputs tab lets us choose the values used to create isosurfaces, as well as defining how the
isosurfaces create the associated volumes and the resolution of the isosurfaces. By default there are three
isosurface values, which are at the lower quartile, median and upper quartile of the data being used. These
default values are often not of interest, but are useful in checking the general shape of the numeric model.
We will go ahead and change them to more reasonable values.
1. Click on the Outputs tab.
2. Click to highlight one of the default values beneath the Iso Value heading, then click it again to edit it.
3. Change the existing values to 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

118 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

4. Click the Add button to add isosurfaces with values of 1.25 and 1.5:

Resolution is important when creating isosurfaces. Ideally we would want it to be equal to the composite
length (5 m in this case). A quick test using one of Leapfrog’s laptops (16GB RAM, 2.8GHz processor) took
75 seconds to run these isosurfaces at a resolution of 5, but if your laptop is particularly slow, it may be
worth increasing the resolution to between 10 - 15. This will still give you a reasonable surface, but will
process more quickly.
The resolution of isosurfaces is important because it determines the size of the triangles making up the
surface. If the resolution is 5, the approximate edge length of the triangles will be 5 units in length
(remembering that Leapfrog is unit-less). If the edge length of the triangles is 5 units, they will be able to
include intervals that are as small as 5 m long. If we were to increase the resolution to 10, the triangles
would only be able to include intervals as small as 10 m long and so will miss some of the smaller intervals.
A lower resolution produces a more accurate surface, but can take a lot longer to run. A general guide is
that if you halve the resolution, the processing time will increase by four times.
5. Change the Default resolution to something between 5 and 15.
The resolution for each surface is set by the Default resolution unless a different resolution for a particular
surface is specified. Since the resolution of each isosurface can be set independently, so you can save time
by making the higher iso value shells at a lower resolution value and the lower iso value shells at a higher
resolution value.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Outputs Tab | 119

6. Set the 1.5 and 1.25 isosurfaces to 5 m and the others to 10:

The Volumes Enclose dropdown lets you choose from Intervals, Higher Values and Lower Values.
l Intervals will create a series of “donut” shaped shells. In this example, the shells will be < 0.5, 0.5 - 0.75,
0.75 - 1.0, 1.0 - 1.25, 1.25 - 1.5, >1.5.
l Higher Values will create a series of shells that enclose all higher values within them. In this example,
the shells will be >0.5, >0.75, >1.0, >1.25, >1.5.
l Lower Values will create a series of shells that enclose all lower values within them. In this example, the
shells will be <0.5, <0.75, <1.0, <1.25, <1.5.
7. In this case we will start by using Intervals, so keep this selected.
8. Click OK.
Once the model has finished running, the model will reload in the scene, but every volume will be opaque,
making it difficult to see what has changed.
9. Clear the scene.
When the model reloads in the scene, every volume will be opaque. To view with increasing transparency,
clear the scene and drag in the numeric model ( ):

© 2018 Seequent Limited

120 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The Evaluation limits refer to when interpolated values evaluated onto objects (surface, points, block
model, etc). These limits do not affect the input data, or the interpolation itself. By default, there is a
Minimum limit set at 0.0. This means that regardless of the parameters set in the Interpolant tab, and the
resulting interpolation, no interpolated values less than 0 will be evaluated onto objects. There is also an
option to set a Maximum value for the interpolated values. If ticked, the default is the highest value in the
dataset, meaning that no interpolated value evaluated onto an object can exceed the highest measured
value. Keep in mind, this is not top cutting as it only affects the interpolated values when evaluated onto
objects, not the input data or the interpolation itself.
This is a good first step but we can see there are some pretty clear issues with the model still, such as the
large high grade blowouts in the SE corner of the model.

Interpolant Tab
1. Double-click on the numeric model object ( ) to open the Edit RBF Interpolant window.
2. Click on the Interpolant tab:

There are a number of parameters in the interpolant tab that can be set based either on rules of thumb or
by using geostatistical input from packages such as Supervisor or Isatis. For this example, we will look at
rules of thumb that work well for a number of examples. The default settings are almost certainly incorrect
so the next few paragraphs are important when creating reasonable numeric models.

As you may have figured out by now, Leapfrog is fast at creating models, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean the first pass models are correct.

Understanding how the interpolation works is one of the key topics in the Leapfrog Geo.

Interpolant
There are two options for the Interpolant, Linear and Spheroidal. The Linear interpolant works well for
lithology data and for quickly visualising data trends. It is not suitable for values with a distinct finite range
of influence such as most metallic ore deposits. The Linear interpolant assumes that values a certain
distance from a particular point have a proportionally greater influence on that point than values further
away. The Spheroidal interpolant works well when there is a finite range beyond which the influence of
one point upon another should fall to zero. This is the case for most metallic ore deposits.
3. Change the interpolant type to Spheroidal.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Base Range | 121

Note that the interpolant function shown in the window changes shape to display the Spheroidal
interpolant rather than the Linear interpolant.

Base Range
The Spheroidal interpolant has a Base Range that represents the distance from the data at which the value
equals the Total Sill. As we move away from a specified point, the influence of that point decays in a
roughly linear manner up to a distance of around 30% of the range. Past 30% of the Base Range, the
influence of the point starts dropping more quickly until it reaches 96% of the value of the total Sill.
In simpler terms, the Base Range is the parameter that roughly corresponds to continuity. Leapfrog is
essentially creating an isosurface through points of equal value; by increasing the Base Range, the
isosurface is able to stretch a further distance between points. The effect of the Base Range can be
visualised most obviously when it is too small.
For this example, setting a Base Range of around 20 will produce a series of isosurfaces that surround the
drilling. These are sometime referred to as “strings of pearls”:

These are a good indication that the Base Range needs to be increased, as it’s extremely unlikely that all
the drillholes manage to perfectly follow thin pipes of high grade while missing the surrounding low
grade!
As a rule of thumb, the Base Range should be set to 2.0 - 2.5 times the distance between drillholes.
In this case, the average distance between holes is around 200 m, so a Base Range of between 400 and
500 should be a good starting point.
4. Change the Base Range to 400.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

122 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Note that the shape of the interpolant function changes to include the range of 400, which is represented
using a vertical yellow line:

Total Sill
The Total Sill controls the upper limit of the interpolant function, where there ceases to be any correlation
between values. We expect that closely spaced samples will be more related or closer in sample values. As
the separation between samples increases, we expect that their differences in value will increase, until a
distance is reached where the samples are no longer related to each other - or the distance between them
and their variability is that of the population variance. For this reason, we will set the Total Sill equal to the
variance.
In this case the variance is around 0.3, but this may change depending on whether you added a different
top cut, used a different composite length or used the log transform.
5. Change the Total Sill to equal the variance..
Note that the shape of the interpolant function changes again and is now limited in the y-direction by the
Total Sill; the function approaches the sill, and will be at 96% of the sill when the function crosses the
Range line.

Nugget
The Nugget allows for local anomalies in sampled data, where a sample is significantly different to what
might be predicted for that point based on the surrounding data. By increasing the value of the Nugget,
more emphasis is placed on the average values of surrounding samples and less on the actual data point.
The Nugget can also be used to reduce noise from inaccurately measured samples.
The rule of thumb for the Nugget changes depending on the deposit type, and geostatistical input is vital.
For this deposit (a porphyry gold project), a Nugget of 10 - 20% is appropriate. It is important to note that
the Nugget is a percentage of the sill, so in this case a 15% nugget would be 0.04.
6. Change the Nugget to 0.04.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Drift | 123

Note the change in the interpolant function; the base point (0.0, 0.0) moves up the y axis to equal the value
of the Nugget:

Drift
The Drift controls the manner in which the interpolant decays away from the data. A Constant drift means
the interpolant will decay to the mean value of the data. A drift of None means the interpolant will decay to
a value of zero away from the data, so is useful when there are no low grade holes constraining the
deposit. A drift of Linear means the interpolant decays linearly away from the data.
In this case, as the interpolant model is currently not bounded to any domain (geological, structural,
weathering etc) and a sensible drift to use will be None. This means that as we move away from the data
toward the edges of the model, the value of the interpolant will revert to a value of zero.
7. Change the Drift to None:

We are only using a drift of None as we currently have no geological domain set up. Later in this session
once we have introduced a geological domain, we will use a drift of Constant.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

124 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Alpha
The Alpha determines how steeply the interpolant rises toward the Total Sill. A low Alpha value produces
an interpolant function that rises more steeply than a high Alpha value. By looking at the interpolant
function while changing the Alpha, we can see that a high Alpha will give points at intermediate distances
more influence compared to lower Alpha values. The possible Alpha values are 9, 7, 5 and 3.
An Alpha of 9 gives the best approximation to the Spherical Variogram, but takes longer to process and in
most situations gives a very similar result to using an Alpha of 3.
In this case, we will keep the Alpha at 3 to reduce processing time.

Accuracy
Leapfrog Geo estimates the Accuracy from the data by taking a fraction of the smallest difference between
measured data values. There is little point in changing the accuracy to be significantly smaller than the
errors in the measured data as the interpolation will run more slowly and will degrade the interpolation
result.
The rule of thumb here is to leave the accuracy as it is.
8. Click OK to reprocess the interpolant.
Editing the Interpolant tab settings has made significant changes to the volumes:

Value Transform Tab

1. Double-click on the interpolant again.
2. Click on the Value Transform tab.
The Transform Type can be set either to None (default) or to Log. For this example, changing the
Transform Type to Log will change the histogram so it is more normally distributed. The Pre-log shift
option becomes available once the Log transform is selected; this prevents issues when taking the
logarithm of zero or negative numbers.
The log transform will always produce smaller volumes compared to not using a transform. Unless outside
geostatistical input is available, the Transform Type should be left as “None”. A good method of deciding
whether or not to use the log transform is to create two identical models; one with the log transform on,
and the other with it off. The user can then visually analyse the models and decide which is more suitable.
3. Keep the Transform Type set to None.
The Lower bound (bottom cut) and Upper bound (top cut) options become available once the Do pre-
transform clipping check box has been enabled. By setting the Upper bound, all samples with a value
greater than the specified Upper bound will be reduced to the value of the Upper bound. This prevents
samples with very high grades having an undue influence on the model. As a rule of thumb, an Upper

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Value Transform Tab | 125

bound can be selected where the histogram starts to break down. A simple method of checking this is by
looking at the histogram and finding the value at which the columns start to get gaps between them.
To split the data into more columns:
4. Click on the Options dropdown list and select Bin Width:

5. Untick the Automatic option and adjust the Bin width.

There is a gap in the data at a value of around 4:

We will use this value as our Upper bound.

6. Tick the Do pre-transform clipping checkbox and change the value of the Upper bound to 4.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

126 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Note that once the Upper bound has been applied, all values greater than 4 have been reduced to be equal
to 4:

7. Click OK to process the changes.

As a first pass model, this isn’t a bad result. We will need to add trends to give the mineralisation more of a
defined shape, as well as limit the extents of the model to within geological domains (which we made as
part of the geological model earlier).

Copying a Numeric Model, and Clipping to a Domain

The easiest way to clip a numeric model to a geological domain is to firstly create a copy of it. Once the
numeric model has been copied, we can alter some of the parameters in the new model and check the
changes against the original interpolant.
1. Right-click on the Au numeric model and select Copy.
2. Enter the name “Au clipped to Quartz porphyry” and click OK.
Now that we have a second numeric model, we can open it up and make appropriate changes to firstly
clip the data/surfaces to the QzP and then update the parameters to take into account the changed data.
For example, the data will be clipped to the QzP lithology, which will change the Upper Bound, Total Sill,
Nugget and Drift.

Bounding your numeric model to a geologically reasonable domain (lithological, structural, alteration,
etc) is vital to creating a reasonable volume result.

3. Collapse the original Au numeric model and expand the new numeric model in the project tree.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Copying a Numeric Model, and Clipping to a Domain | 127

4. Right-click on the Boundary and select New Lateral Extent > From Surface:

5. Select the QzP output volume:

6. Click OK.
7. Clear the scene.
8. Once the model has been processed, add it to the scene:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

128 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The model has changed in two different ways. Firstly the isosurfaces have been clipped to the QzP
boundary, and secondly the data has been clipped to the QzP boundary:

Now that the boundary has been changed, we need to edit the other interpolation parameters as
discussed above.
9. Double-click on the numeric model to open the Edit RBF Interpolant window.
In the Values tab, we can see that the Surface filter is set to Boundary. As the boundary is now set to the
QzP volume, this means the Surface filter is already using the QzP so we don’t need to change anything
here.
We can also leave the Boundary tab and the Trend tab unchanged.
10. Click on the Interpolant tab to see if anything needs to be changed there.
11. If necessary, make appropriate changes to the Total Sill, Drift and Nugget.
12. Since the values used in the interpolation have changed, you may wish to revisit the Value Transform
tab to assess the clipping Upper bound.
Remember, any changes made here should be followed by a double check of the Interpolant tab
parameters.
13. The Outputs tab should be correct as it is, so we can click OK and let the model reprocess.
14. Clear the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding a Contour Polyline to the Numeric Model | 129

15. Add the model to the scene:

Adding a Contour Polyline to the Numeric Model

Sometimes manual interpretation is necessary to create the surfaces you as the geologist believe exist.
Sometimes drillholes end in high grade and potential blowouts need to be mitigated. We can use contour
polylines to add this interpretation/limitation. To add a contour polyline, you need to decide what value the
polyline is, then draw the polyline either on a surface or on the slicer. This feature is most useful where
there is limited data; remember that if there is contradicting data (i.e. the drillholes contradict the contour
polyline), the surface produced will not look correct. By doing this, you are essentially adding assay values
to your interpolant, so use with care.
1. Draw a slice through your existing Au clipped to Quartz porhyry numeric model, cutting along hole
MA011.
In this example, I will use a contour polyline to mitigate a small blowout caused by a drillhole ending
prematurely:

2. Right-click on the Values under the interpolant, and select New Contour Polyline.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

130 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Enter the value that you would like the contour polyline to represent.
In this case, we will use 0.5.

4. Draw the contour polyline on the slicer, off the end of the drillhole, then click Save in the toolbar.

5. The model will be updated, and the surfaces will now represent the contour polyline:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Numeric Model Statistics | 131

Numeric Model Statistics

Numeric models have in built statistics that give basic information regarding grades and volumes within
each shell.
1. Right-click on the Au clipped to Quartz porphyry model and select Statistics.

There are four columns: Interval, Interval Volume, Approx Mean Value and Units. The first three columns
are used to calculate the last column, then each row is added to give a total number of Units.
l The Interval column lists the value(s) of the volumes that are being calculated.
l The Interval Volume column lists the total volume contained within each Interval
l The Approx Mean Value lists the mean value of the volume. In the example above, the intervals <0.5
and >1.5 have Approx Mean Values of 0.5 and 1.5 respectively (as there is no further information
available higher or lower than these grades). The interval from 0.5 - 0.75 has an Approx Mean Value of
0.625, which is half way between the two grade shells. To gain accuracy, one method is to increase the
number of grade shells (by decreasing the spacing between shells).
l The Units columns is calculated by multiplying the Interval Volume by the Approx Mean Value, which
gives a total number of units. Each row is added to give the total number of units.
There is a short description at the bottom of the window giving instructions for turning the total units into
grams. In this case, where our gold grades are in grams/ton, we can look at the average density of the QzP
lithology, multiply it by the total units, then divide by 31.1 (1 troy ounce = 31.1 grams) to give total (troy)
ounces of Gold.
l Total Units is 47,640,531
l Density of QzP is ~2.7 tons/m3
l (47,640,531 x 2.7) / 31.1 = 4.1 million ounces of Gold within the QzP.
Note that we haven’t included a cut off, so we are calculating the grade within the entire QzP domain.
There are several things we could do to get a more constrained result, including limiting the model to
within a certain distance to the drilling (New Lateral Extent > From Distance Function), using an
Indicator RBF interpolant as a boundary , and creating further refined geological domains (using Refined
Models).

© 2018 Seequent Limited

© 2018 Seequent Limited
Session 9: Drillhole Planning
Contents
Set Up of a Planned Drillhole 133
Creating a Fence of Drillholes 140
Exporting Planned Drillholes 141
Importing Planned Drillholes 141
Using Distance Functions to Help Plan New Drillholes 142

Goals
In this session, we will look at planning drillholes in Leapfrog Geo. This is a simple process, and can
include outputs such as expected grade and lithology based on existing models, as well as the
standard survey data. We can also decide where to put new drillholes based on the proximity to
existing drillholes. We will continue with the Maia dataset for this session.

Set Up of a Planned Drillhole

The easiest method for setting up a planned drillhole is to view the topography and the drillholes in the
scene, as well as the target, which could be the numeric model or a geological model. You can then
specify the collar and target locations, and alter the lift, drift and depth. Once the location of the drillhole
has been entered, a prognosis can be made. This takes any existing model and evaluates it against the
planned drillhole, letting us look at expected grade and lithology down hole based on current models.
1. Clear the scene.
2. Add the M_geology drillhole table to the scene.
3. Add the topography and the QzP output volume into the scene.

A good way to visualise the location of the high grade based on existing data is to run an evaluation on the
QzP.
4. Right-click on the QzP output volume and select Evaluations.
5. Select the Au clipped to Quartz porphyry numeric model and drag it across to the right hand window.
6. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

134 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

7. Once the evaluation has finished processing, click the display dropdown box in the shape list and select
the numeric model.

8. Rotate the scene to view the drillholes and the volumes from below:

Now that we can see the numeric model evaluated against the mineralised QzP, we can see that there are
patches where the high grade is better defined and large patches where the grade is poorly defined. In
particular, the south-western end of the QzP has a large area of low grade, which we can see contains no
drillholes. We will plan a drillhole in this area to better define the edge of the deposit.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Set Up of a Planned Drillhole | 135

9. Rotate the scene until you can see where on the topography you want the collar and where on the QzP
you want the drillhole target.

You can be looking underneath the topography to make it easier to visualise.

10. Right-click on the Planned Drillholes folder, which is beneath the top level Drillhole Data folder.
11. Select New Group.
The DrillholeGroup window will appear:

In this window we can specify the drillhole prefix as well as give the drillhole group a name before we start
creating new planned holes.
12. In the Prefix field, type ‘MA’ to continue adding drillholes to the recent second stage drilling.
13. In the Name field, give the group a meaningful name e.g. ‘Summer 2018 Drilling’.
14. Click Add Drillhole to plan the first new hole.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

136 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The Drillhole Planning window will appear:

In this window we have several main sections. At the top of the window, we can specify whether to start at
the Collar or start at the Target. Depending on which is selected, either the Collar or the Target window
will be greyed out. In the image above, the Collar is selected so the Target section is greyed out.
Halfway down the window there is a Path section. Once the start point of the drillhole has been specified,
we can change its path by varying the lift, drift and depth.
At the bottom of the window in the Description section, we can add a comment, change the name and
change the phase of drilling.
We will look at each of these sections during this session.
15. First, make sure the Collar option is selected at the top of the window.
16. Making sure the scene is still in the correct position so that the desired collar location on the
topography, as well as the target location are both visible.
17. Click the cursor icon ( ) in the top right corner of the Drillhole Planning window.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Set Up of a Planned Drillhole | 137

18. Click on the topography where you would like the collar to be located, then drag to the point on the
QzP where you would like the target to be located:

When you release the cursor, a straight drillhole will be in the scene:

It is now possible to edit the lift (vertical movement) and drift (horizontal movement), as well as the total
depth, and the distance past the target.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

138 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

19. Edit the Path settings in the middle of the Drillhole Planning window to add lift.

20. In the Description section, change the Name to ‘MA029’ to keep this hole in sequence.
21. Click OK.
The planned drillholes will now appear in the Planned drillholes section of the Drillhole Group window:

We can edit the drillholes at any time by clicking on the pencil icon ( ).
22. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Set Up of a Planned Drillhole | 139

The planned drillhole group will be saved under the Planned Drillholes folder:

Now we will create a prognosis, which will show the expected grade and lithology at depth based on
existing models. First though, we will need to evaluate our models onto the proposed holes.
23. Right-click on the Summer 2018 drilling group and select Evaluations.
The Select Models to Evaluate window will appear:

24. Move the Maia Geological Model and the Au clipped to Quartz Porphyry numeric model to the
Selected side.
25. Change the Sample Distance to some interval of interest.
26. Click OK.
27. Right-click on the planned drillhole group and select Drilling Prognoses to view the prognosis in table
form.

28. Select one of the models from the dropdown list at the top of the Drilling Prognoses window or view
all evaluations together using the Merged Intervals option.
The drilling prognoses can also be viewed in the scene on the planned holes.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

140 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

29. Add the Summer 2018 drilling planned drillholes group to the scene.
30. In the scene list, change the display from Flat Colour to one of the evaluated models:

Creating a Fence of Drillholes

To create a fence of drillholes at a set distance and azimuth apart, we can edit the Drilling Planning
Options. The easiest way to plan a fence is to change the Offset To Next Hole options (both the distance
and azimuth).
1. Right-click on the Summer 2018 drilling group and select Edit Planned Drillhole Defaults.
2. Enter a Distance of 50 m and an Azimuth of 25 degrees, then click OK.

3. Press the D key to view the scene from above.

4. Right-click on the Summer 2018 drilling group and select Open.
5. Click on Add Drillhole.
The Drillhole Planning window will open.
6. As we did above, specify the collar location by clicking on the cursor, then clicking on the desired collar
location on the topography.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Exporting Planned Drillholes | 141

7. Once the initial hole has been created, click New Hole in the bottom right hand corner of the Drillhole
Planning window.

In the plan view above, we can see that each time Next Hole is clicked, a new hole is created at a distance
of 50 m and an azimuth of 25 degrees from the previous hole. Each hole will have a collar on the
topography, and will have the lift and drift that were specified in the Drillhole Planning Options.
8. Once you are finished creating planned drillholes, click OK to close the window.
9. Click OK again to close the Drillhole Group.

Exporting Planned Drillholes

There are two ways to export planned drillholes. The first is to export parameters , and the second is to
export interval tables.
l To export only parameters, right-click on the Summer 2018 drilling group, scroll down to Export and
select Export Parameters. Select the drillholes to export using the check boxes, then click Export.
Browse to an appropriate location, give the file a name, then click Save. The planned drillholes will be
exported to a csv file which can be opened in Microsoft Excel or any text editor.
l To export interval tables, right-click on the Summer 2018 drilling group, scroll down to Export and
select Export as Interval Tables. Select which model evaluations to export using the check boxes, then
click Export. Browse to an appropriate location, check that the Base file name is also appropriate, then
click Save. The planned drillholes and their drilling prognoses will be exported to csv files which can be
opened in Microsoft Excel or any text editor. These interval tables can then be imported as drillholes
into a Leapfrog project.

Importing Planned Drillholes

If you have planned your drillholes elsewhere, it’s still very useful to view them in Leapfrog, within the
context of your model, and also to acquire the drillhole prognoses.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

142 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

To import drillholes, you require the columns as shown below:

If you don’t know a lift or drift rate or distance over which a hole lifts or drifts, these can be entered as 0 in
your import table.

Using Distance Functions to Help Plan New Drillholes

The Distance Function tool in Leapfrog Geo allows you to calculate the distance from a given object or
objects within a project, and derive distance buffers – solids whose walls are a set distance from the
objects we are interested in. Although conceptually simple, this tool can be applied to drillhole planning
and resource classification to quickly and easily inform and justify our planning as well as quantify current
and potential reserves.
Using our Maia project as an example, we have an ore body which is partially drilled out; to the south west
and north east it is a bit poorly constrained and we might plan an additional drillhole program to gather
more information in these areas.
While we can visually identify areas that have limited numbers of pierce points, ideally, we want to quantify
in some way what areas are poorly controlled and ultimately what impact our new drilling will have on our
resource. In this example we will assume that anywhere within 50 m of a drillhole will be classed as
measured, 50-75 m as indicated, 75-100m inferred and >100 m as unclassified. Note that you could also
use these same classifications to categorise confidence.

Build a New Distance Function

1. Clear the scene.
2. To start building the new distance buffers, right-click on the Numeric Models folder in the project tree
and select New Distance Function.

The New Distance Function window will open.

3. Click on the Select Objects button.
4. Move Drillhole traces to Selected objects on the right.
5. Click OK.
6. Go to the Buffers tab.
7. Click Add to add a calculated distance isosurface and type in the distance from the objects you want it to
be.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Evaluate a Distance Buffer on a Volume | 143

In this case, we will make three isosurfaces at 50, 75 and 100 metres respectively:

8. Leave the Volume Type as Concentric and the Default resolution is fine for a starting point. Click OK.
9. Drag the new Distance to Drillholes distance buffer into the scene.

The distance buffer on its own can be a helpful visualisation tool but more value in drillhole planning
comes from evaluating the buffer onto our mineralised body.

Evaluate a Distance Buffer on a Volume

10. Expand your geological model Output Volumes to find the QzP solid.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

144 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

11. Right-click on the QzP and select Evaluations:

The Select Models to Evaluate window will open.

12. Move our new Distance to Drillhole traces buffer to the right Selected column.
13. Click OK.
14. Clear the scene and then add the QzP to the scene again.
15. Display the volume using the distance function evaluation:

We can use the default continuous colourmap or set up a discrete colour scheme to reflect our categories:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Evaluate a Distance Buffer on a Volume | 145

This gives us a great visualisation of the current drillhole spacing and pierce points. We can now use the
drillhole planning tool to specifically target the areas with insufficient drilling density. Once the drillhole
planning is done or while we are doing it, it would be good to understand how this additional data will
affect the confidence in and classification of our model. We can repeat the initial steps in this workflow, but
when selecting our objects in the distance function, choose our planned drillholes in addition to the
drillhole traces. When we colour our solid again we will be able to see how the next round of drilling will
improve our understanding of the ore body.

For more information on using Distance Functions for drillhole planning, please visit our blog here:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

© 2018 Seequent Limited
Session 10: Cross Sections
Contents
Setting Up a Cross Section 147
Evaluating a Geological Model Onto a Cross Section 149
Creating a Section Layout 149
Changing the Set Up of the Page 152
Organising the Section 152
Annotations 162
Saving and Exporting Cross Sections 166
Creating Serial Sections 167
Batch Export of Section Layouts 169
Creating Fence Sections 169

Goals
In this session, we will go over the creation of cross sections in Leapfrog Geo, as well as showing a
number of related features.

Setting Up a Cross Section

Cross sections can be accessed in the Cross Sections and Contours folder in the project tree. You can
create either a one-off section or serial (batch) sections. Before creating cross sections, it is best to bring a
model into the scene. This means the extents and location of the default section will be created in the
correct general area. Once the location of the cross section has been set up, any model or surface or
drillhole in the project can be evaluated against the cross section. The steps required to set up an individual
cross section are very similar to those required to set up serial sections. We will start with making an
individual section.
1. Open the Maia project, if it’s not already open.
2. View a model in the scene.
This could be a geological model, a numeric model or another set of surfaces.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

148 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

3. Put a slice through the model where you would like the cross section to be located:

4. Right-click on the Cross Sections and Contours folder in the project tree and select New Cross
Section.
The New Cross Section window will appear in the scene, as well as a plane that can be manipulated to
control the size and location of the cross section. The plane will be positioned on the sliced section of the
model.

If you already know where you want the cross section to go, you can enter the exact location in the
window. If not, you can move the plane in the scene to a suitable location. The size, as well as the dip and
azimuth of the cross section, can be altered both in the window and by using the plane in the scene. There
are shortcut buttons in the window that allow the section to be set to either a north-south or east-west
orientation.
The front of the cross section can be changed in the window by selecting the Swap Front button. When
clicked, the ‘B’ for back and ‘F’ for front will be updated on the plane in the scene. This is important, as it
controls what side of the plane is in view when the cross section is being edited.
5. Once the section has been positioned as required, click OK.
The cross section will appear in the Cross Sections and Contours folder, and can be edited by double-
clicking on it in the project tree.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Evaluating a Geological Model Onto a Cross Section | 149

Evaluating a Geological Model Onto a Cross Section

Once the location and size of the cross section have been set up, we need to evaluate the models, surfaces
and lines we’d like to display onto it.
1. Right-click on the new cross section in the project tree and select Evaluations:

2. Select the models you wish to evaluate against the cross section by moving them to the Selected
window.
3. Click OK.
When evaluating models, surfaces or lines onto sections, it is possible to clip the evaluations to the section
extents by ticking the box. This results in more efficient processing, and an in-scene display of only the
area of interest.
4. Clear the scene.
The model will take a few seconds to evaluate onto the section. If required, multiple models can be
evaluated onto the section.
5. Add the cross section into the scene to view it:

Creating a Section Layout

The next step is to create a section layout and make changes as required to the cross section. This will let
us add features such as drilling, legends, scale bars and text to the section.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

150 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

1. Right-click on the cross section in the project tree, and select New Section Layout:

The section editor window will appear in the background as a new tab, as well as a window that allows the
basic set up of the section to be changed.
2. In the initial window, change the Page size to A3.
3. Set the scale to match the page size by clicking Fit to Page.
4. Add the evaluated geological model to the section by clicking the Select Models button:

5. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating a Section Layout | 151

The section layout editor is displayed with the initial parameters set:

How the section layout editor is organised is similar to how a Leapfrog project is organised:
l The Layout Tree on the left-hand side of the window shows the different layers that can be added to
the section.
l The Object Attributes Window displays additional options for the object selected in the Layout Tree.
l The Section Preview Window shows a dynamic view of the section that is updated whenever changes
are made in either of the other windows.

Objects in the section preview can be organised by clicking on them and dragging them.

The information that can be added to the section is organised into three main folders in the Layout Tree:
the Section, Legend Group and Annotations:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

152 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Changing the Set Up of the Page

Click on the Page object at the top of the layout tree to change the page setup. The available options are
listed in the object attributes window, including page size, orientation, dimensions (if page size is set to
‘custom’), and margins. As each option is changed in the object attributes window, the view is updated live
in the section preview window.

Organising the Section

The Section folder lets us add models, drillholes, surfaces and lines to the cross section, as well as modify
the scale, extents and axes of the model.
When Section is highlighted in the project tree, there are four tabs (Section, Extent, X-Axis and Y-Axis)
available in the object attributes window. You can change the scale of the section at any time here. The
Section tab allows you to define what units your project is in (m, ft, etc).
l Models include surfaces and volumes from any evaluated geological, numeric, combined or refined
models.
l Drillholes allows traces within a specified distance from the section to be added, then up to three types
of associated data (categorical or numeric) can be viewed and filtered on the drillholes in the section.
l Surfaces include any surfaces in the model such as meshes, faults, boundaries, topographies and
volumes.
l Lines include any GIS lines or polylines.
Models, Surfaces and Lines need to be evaluated against the cross section in the Leapfrog project tree
before they can be added to a section layout in the section editor. The only models available are the ones
selected at the start of this session. We haven’t evaluated any surfaces, lines or drillholes against the cross
section yet.

Adding Surfaces and Lines to the Section

In the following steps, we will look at adding a surface* to a cross section. While we will not add any lines
to this cross section, the process is exactly the same.
* Surfaces within evaluated models (i.e. contact surfaces) will automatically be added to the section when
the model is evaluated to the section. Surfaces outside of evaluated geological, numeric or combined
models (e.g. topography, pit shells, water table, etc), however, have to be independently evaluated onto
sections to be viewed. We are about to proceed with the latter. We will look at surfaces within an evaluated
model later in the session.
To evaluate a surface against the cross section, we need to go back to the project tree in Leapfrog.
1. Right-click on the cross section in the project tree, and select Evaluate Surfaces.

All surfaces in the project are listed. We will evaluate the topography surface against the cross section.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding Surfaces and Lines to the Section | 153

2. Move the Topography across to the Selected window on the right, either by double-clicking on the
Topography, or by clicking and dragging it across.

3. Click OK.
The topography surface will be added to the cross section. It won’t be displayed yet; this is the next step.
4. To display the topography in the section, right-click on the Surfaces folder in the Layout Tree and select
Add Surface:

5. Tick the check box, then click OK.

By default the surface is very thin so is difficult to see. Next we will change the colour and thickness of the
topography surface.
6. Expand the Surfaces folder so you can see the topography surface.
7. Click on the topography surface to highlight it.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

154 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The attributes for it are displayed below:

You can change the line width, style, colour, the pattern scale (depending on the style of line chosen), and
add a marker if you wish.
8. Change the line width to around 1.5, and the line style/colour as appropriate.
9. Tick the Show in legend check box:

We won’t add any additional surfaces, but there are a number of useful surfaces that could be added, such
as a weathering surface, a planned pit shell or existing/planned underground workings.

Adding Drillholes to a Section

To add drillholes to a section, we can go straight to the Drillholes folder in the cross section layout tree
rather than having to go back into the project tree and evaluate them against the section.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding Drillholes to a Section | 155

1. Right-click on the Drillholes folder in the layout tree and select Add Drillholes.
2. Select M_assays and click OK.
In the window that appears, drillholes can be filtered based on their distance from the section plane.
3. Enter a distance of 15 m:

4. Tick the box for the drillholes listed and click OK.
The drillhole traces will appear in the cross section:

In some cases, if you have multiple collars in one location, you will notice the collar labels obscure one
another.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

156 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

5. To move a collar label, simply click and drag it to the desired location.

You can also rotate the collar labels to make them easier to read on the section.
6. Click on the assay table in the layout tree.
7. Click on the Points and Labels tab.
The Labels settings give you different options for changing how the collar information is displayed.
8. Click the Options button for Show top labels.
9. Change the Rotation value:

There are a lot of options for how drillholes are displayed on the section, but you can experiment with the
different options and see their effect in the section preview.
10. With the assay table selected in the layout tree, click on the Lines tab.
Up to three different properties can be displayed for the drillhole trace lines, along the left, centre and right
of the trace.
11. Tick Left and change the display to Au.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Editing the Models in a Section | 157

12. Click the Options button to see more settings:

You can display the drilling based on a value filter, as solid lines, as a bar graph or as a line graph (with or
without a logarithmic scale). You can also change the line width.
13. Click on the Labels tab.
If you’re displaying all the assays, this will be a little crowded, but if you have applied a value filter it will look
reasonable.

14. Close the Edit Colouring window.

Editing the Models in a Section

Now that we have added the geological model, drillholes and the topography surface to the section, we
will edit the display of the model by changing colours, transparency and hatches.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

158 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

1. Expand the Models folder in the layout tree so you can see the Surfaces and Output Volumes folders:

Edit the Surfaces

2. Click the black triangle beside the Surfaces folder to view all the available contact surfaces in the
geological model.
The visual properties of each contact surface can be edited independently. We will edit the QzP | GnD
surface as an example.
3. Scroll down the list and click on the QzP | GnD surface.
4. Click Override line style.
5. Adjust the Line style, colour, Line width and Pattern scale as appropriate
6. Tick the Add marker box to add a custom marker, adjust accordingly.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Edit the Volumes | 159

7. Repeat as required.

Edit the Volumes

Now that we have seen how to edit the surfaces, we’ll take a look at the volumes.
8. Click on the Granodiorite (GnD) volume.
In this window, we can change whether the GnD is visible, its label in the legend, whether to highlight it,
and the colour/hatch of the volume:

Keep the GnD visible and the description as default.

9. For Colour, tick the Edit check box.
10. Click on the colour swatch to edit the colour.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

160 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

11. Keep the colour the same, but change the opacity to 100:

12. Click OK.

13. Tick the Hatch checkbox, then click on the hatch swatch to edit the hatch pattern:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Edit the Volumes | 161

There are a number of common rock types that can be searched for in the search window. Otherwise you
can look through each folder to find an appropriate rock type. For the GnD in this model, we will use a
granodiorite hatch pattern.
14. Type “granodiorite” into the search box and 3 different options appear:

15. Choose the first by clicking on it.

16. Click OK.
The cross section will be updated to include the hatch pattern.
17. To change the scale and line width of the hatch pattern, use the Hatch scale and Line width options:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

162 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

18. Add appropriate hatch patterns to the QzP volume.

Annotations
Next we will edit the annotations, including the title, the title block, the scale bar, the location labels, text
boxes and images.
To edit the Title, there are two options. We could either click on the title in the section previous, or click on
the Title object in the layout tree. Either will highlight the section and display the options for the title.
1. To edit the name of the title, tick the Edit checkbox.
2. Enter an appropriate title for the cross section:

3. Choose whether to display a boundary box around the title, and change the line style, width and colour.
There is one title block available.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Annotations | 163

4. Click on the Title Block in the layout tree and tick the Visible check box.

5. Enter the attributes for each part of the title block and they will be updated in the section layout.
6. Click on the Scale Bar to change its options:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

164 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Choose whether or not to view the location of the section.

Adding a Text Box

1. To add a text box to the cross section, right-click on the Text Boxes folder and select Add Textbox.
2. Click and drag the text box in the section preview to move it into position.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding an Image | 165

3. Click on the text box in the layout tree to edit its properties:

4. Now to add an arrow coming from the text box, right-click on the text box in the layout tree and select
Add Arrow.
An arrow will appear on the text box, which can be dragged around using the node on the end of it.
The Automatic Anchoring option determines whether the text box end of the arrow moves around the
text box dynamically, or whether it is anchored in one position to the text box. The line style and colour
can also be changed.
The last option we will look at is the Images folder.

Adding an Image
Images can be a useful way to describe the location in space of the section. There are multiple possible
options, but two common options are to take a screen shot in plan view showing the location of the
section or to take a screen shot in oblique view showing the location.
Images also make it easy to add your company logo to the section.
1. To save the section layout, click the Save button at the top of the window.
2. Set the scene up so you can see the location of the cross section in relation to the geological model.
3. Take a screen capture using one of the following options:
l Use the built-in Render Image ( ) option in Leapfrog.
l Use any screen capture software such as Snipping Tool, which is installed for free with Windows.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

166 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

4. Save the image file to your hard drive.

5. Double-click on the section layout to open it.
6. Right-click on the Images folder and select Add Image.
7. Navigate to the screen capture and click Open.
8. The image will be added to the cross section, and can be repositioned and resized as required:

Saving and Exporting Cross Sections

Once the cross section has been set up as required, click Save in the section layout editor. This will save the
layout under the section in the project tree. To access it again, double-click on the layout in the project
tree.
The section can be saved in *.pdf, *.svg, *.png and Geo Tiff formats by clicking on the Save and Export
button ( ).
Once the required format has been selected, click Save. An option asking whether you would like to open
and view the exported section will appear.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Serial Sections | 167

The line work for the cross section can be exported as a .dxf or .dwg file by right-clicking on the cross
section in the project tree and selecting Export, choosing which model to evaluate on the section, and
clicking OK. In this example, the geological model line work has been exported, which means each
volume on the cross section will be exported as a separate DXF line. These can be viewed together, as
shown below:

They can also be viewed separately:

Creating Serial Sections

Serial sections at specific spacings can easily be created in Leapfrog.
1. Clear the scene.
2. Add a model to the scene you wish to create a serial section for.
3. Right-click on the Cross Sections and Contours folder and select New Serial Section.
4. Choose the location of the base section either by using the arrows in the scene, or typing directly into
the New Serial Section window.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

168 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

5. Change the spacing between each section to an appropriate distance.

6. Click OK.
A new serial section will appear under the Cross Sections and Contours folder.
7. Right-click on the serial section and select Evaluations.
8. Select a model to evaluate on the sections, and click OK.
9. Clear the scene.
Depending on the number of sections making up the serial section, the model may take a few minutes to
evaluate.
10. Drag the top level serial sections object ( ) into the scene:

Now that the model has been evaluated, we can create a new layout.
11. Right-click on one of the serial sections in the project tree and select New Section Layout.
12. Change the settings for the section as described earlier and click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Batch Export of Section Layouts | 169

Once the layout is designed how you like, this layout can be copied to any of the other sections in the
batch.
13. Right-click the layout you just created and select Copy Layout To.
14. This will open a Copy Layout window that lists the properties of the existing layout, and the available
sections the layout can be copied to.
15. Select All the available sections and click OK.

Batch Export of Section Layouts

In the same way you can export a single section, you can batch export serial sections to *.pdf, *.svg, *.png
and Geo Tiff formats.
1. Right-click on the Cross Sections and Contours folder the project tree, and select Batch Export
Layouts.
2. Select the layouts you wish to export, the desired format, and the folder to save them in.

For more information, see the Serial Cross Sections topic in the online help.

Creating Fence Sections

A fence section can be created in Leapfrog using either an existing polyline, or by drawing a new one.
Create a new fence section by right-clicking on the Cross Sections and Contours folder and selecting
New Fence Section.
Evaluations are made on a fence section in the same manner as normal cross sections. Section layouts can
also be created and exported.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

170 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

The fence section can be viewed in the scene and the linework exported as a dxf by right-clicking on the
fence section and selecting Export.

For more information, see the Fence Sections topic in the online help.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

Session 11: Building a Model from a Map Using GIS
Lines and Structural Data
Contents
Creating a New Project 171
Importing a Non-Georeferenced Map 171
Creating the Topography From a Mesh 172
Digitising the Fault 174
Creating Structural Data for the Fault 175
Importing Structural Data for the Contact Surfaces 177
Creating the Geological Model for the Western Side 178
Adding the Fault to the Geological Model 179
Activating the Fault in the Model 180
Defining the Lithologies 181
Defining the Sedimentary Sequence for the Western Block 181
Adding an Erosion Surface from a GIS Line 184
Copying the Surface Chronology 186
Exporting a Leapfrog Model 186

Goals
In this session, we will build a geological model from a map, structural data and GIS lines. Then we will
learn how to export volumes, surfaces and full geological models.
The data for this session is available from the Session \ Session 11 - Building a Model from a Map folder.

Creating a New Project

To start, we are going to create a new project.
1. Click on the Projects tab.
2. Click the New Project button.
3. Enter the name “Sagean Valley” for the project and click OK.

Importing a Non-Georeferenced Map

For this project, we will import a non georeferenced map.
1. Right-click on the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and select Import Map.
2. Browse to the folder for this session and select the Sagean Valley Map.png file.
3. Click Open.
The Import Image window will appear. In this window, you enter georeferencing information using three
points of reference. These reference points are positioned in the image and then assigned their real-world
coordinates.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

172 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

4. Click on the yellow marker and position it in the scene, as shown below:

5. Enter the coordinates for the yellow marker, read from the map.
6. Repeat the process for the green and blue markers.
7. Click Import.
8. Add the image to the scene and press the D key to view it from above.
If the image appears skewed in the scene, you may have entered one or more of the co-ordinates
incorrectly. To edit the georeference markers, double-click on the image in the project tree.

Creating the Topography From a Mesh

1. Right-click on the Meshes folder and select Import Mesh.
2. Select the file Topo.dxf and click Open.
3. The Cleanup Mesh window will open. Click OK to accept the default steps.
4. Clear the scene.
5. Add the mesh to the scene:

6. Right-click on the Topographies folder and select New Topography > From Surface.
7. Select the topography mesh and click OK.
8. Click OK to accept the default name for the topography.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Viewing the Topography | 173

Viewing the Topography

1. Clear the scene.
2. Once the topography has been processed, add it to the scene.
3. In the shape list, click the display dropdown to the right of the Remove from scene button ( ) and
select Face dip:

This will colour the mesh by its face dip orientation.

4. Click anywhere on the mesh.
The information box that open in the lower left-hand corner of the screen shows the dip of the selected
triangle:

Every surface in Leapfrog can be displayed by its face dip.

5. For the next part of the session, select the Sagean Valley map from the GIS data dropdown list:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

174 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

Digitising the Fault

1. Press the D key to view the topography from above.
2. Zoom in so you have a clear view of the entire fault.
3. Right-click on the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and select New GIS Line > From New Drawing.
4. Enter the name ‘Fault’, and click OK.
5. A new toolbar will appear at the top of the screen, with icons for drawing the GIS line:

6. Hold the mouse cursor over each button to check its functionality.
The controls are the same as those for drawing polylines, but drawing is limited to 2D.
7. Click the Draw Lines button ( ).
Note that once this has been selected, the cursor icon changes to enable drawing. GIS lines can be straight
or curved, just like polylines.
To revert back to the standard cursor, either click the Select button ( ) in the toolbar, or click the right
mouse button anywhere in the scene. For a shortcut to accessing the cursor while in drawing mode, you
can hold the Shift key, which lets you move the scene around using the normal controls. When the Shift
button is released, the drawing cursor will return.
8. To draw the fault, click to add nodes along the fault shown on the map:

9. Right-click to end the line.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Creating Structural Data for the Fault | 175

There are a number of different edits you can make to the completed GIS line:
l To delete a single point, click on it, then click the Delete selected items ( ) button.
l To delete the entire line, double-click anywhere on it, and click the Delete selected items button.
l To add a point to the line, click where you wish to add the point and either use the Add node on a line
button ( ) or use the hotkey Shift+A.
l To make a line curved, click anywhere along it, away from a node, and click and drag it.
l Make fine changes to the curve using the bezier control points, which can be displayed by clicking on
the line in the shape list then enabling the Show bezier control points option.
10. Once you are happy with the GIS line, click the Save button ( ).
11. Remove the GIS line and the slicer from the scene.

Creating Structural Data for the Fault

There are two structural measurements available for the fault trace. We are going to create them using the
Structural Modelling folder in the project tree.
1. Right-click on the Structural Modelling folder and select New Planar Structural Data.
2. Enter the name “Fault” and click OK.
While not necessary to follow exactly, the next few steps will help ensure that your structural data are
created with the correct, consistent polarity every time.
3. Ensure the slicer is not in the scene and press the D key to look down.
We will start with the 60 degree measurement at the northern end of the map. Make a mental note of the
approximate dip direction. In this case, the dip direction/azimuth is ~245.
4. Rotate the view such that the dip tick from the mapped measurement is pointing to the top of your
computer screen and that the fault trace runs lengthwise across your screen:

5. In the lower right hand corner of the scene window, check the Plunge and Azimuth.
If the azimuth displayed is ~245, you are correctly oriented. If the azimuth is ~65, the view has passed over
vertical and you’re looking “backwards” at the measurement.
6. If necessary, rotate until the azimuth is ~245. Don’t worry about the plunge.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

176 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

7. Once oriented correctly, click the Click and drag to create new points button ( ) in the toolbar:

8. To place the structural disk, click and drag with the left mouse button along the fault trace:

As long as you are holding down the mouse button, you can control the disk orientation.
9. When you’re happy, release the mouse button.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Importing Structural Data for the Contact Surfaces | 177

10. In the Planar Structural Data window, set the dip and press Enter key on the keyboard:

11. Repeat for the measurement at the southern end of the fault.
Remember you can use the Shift key to move in the scene when the structural data editing cursor is active.
12. Once both structural disks are created, click the Save button ( ) and close the Planar Structural Data.
13. Remove the Fault structural data table from the scene.

Importing Structural Data for the Contact Surfaces

You could use the contact information on the map to create structural data tables, but for this part of the
session, we will instead import a series of csv files.
1. Right-click on the Structural Modelling folder and select Import Planar Structural Data.
2. Navigate to the folder for this session.
3. Select the file Green_Pink_Contact.csv.
Note the required columns for importing Structural Data.
4. Click Open, then Finish.
The new structural data table will appear in the project tree.
5. Press the D key to view the scene from above.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

178 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

6. Add the Green Pink Contact.csv structural data table to the scene.
If you cannot see the disks, select the Green_Pink_contacts in the shape list to view its properties in the
properties panel and increase the Disk radius to ~80:

7. Import the files Pink_Orange_Contact.csv and Orange_Yellow_Contact.csv and add them to the scene.
In this case, the structural data for the different contacts exist in separate tables. It’s also possible to work
with structural data that all exists in one table, using a category column and query filters.

Creating the Geological Model for the Western Side

At this point, we have the data necessary to build the depositional layers for the geological model, but we
haven’t yet imported the GIS lines representing the two blue erosional surfaces. We will do this later, after
the geological model has been built and the other surfaces modelled.
1. Right-click on the Geological Models folder in the project tree and select New Geological Model.
2. Use the controls in the scene to set the model extents to enclose the map.
3. In the New Geological Model window, set the Z (Elev) values to -260 and 760.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding the Fault to the Geological Model | 179

4. Set the Surface Resolution to 50.

5. Click OK.

Adding the Fault to the Geological Model

We will now add the fault to the Geological model to split it into an East block and a West block, so we can
model each separately.
1. Clear the scene.
2. Drag the topography with surface map into the scene.
3. Press the D key to view the scene from above.
4. Make the topography partly transparent.
5. Right-click on the Fault System for the new geological model and select New Fault > From GIS Vector
Data:

In the window that appears, you can set the Fault Type to Surface or Vertical Wall. When the Surface
option is selected, the drawn GIS line will appear in the list twice. The Fault (On Topography) option
automatically drapes the drawn GIS line on the topography.
6. Select the Fault (On Topography) object and click OK.
7. Expand the Fault System in the project tree to see the new fault. 
8. Drag the newly created fault into the scene.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

180 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

It does not necessarily align with the structural measurements:

9. Right-click the Fault (On Topography) object in the project tree > Add > Structural Data.
Existing structural data will appear in the dropdown.
10. Select the Fault structural data table and click OK.
The fault surface will be updated to take into consideration the structural data measurements:

Activating the Fault in the Model

1. Double-click on the Fault System.
2. Tick the box to activate the fault and click OK.
3. Clear the scene.
4. Right-click on the geological model and select View Fault Block Boundaries.
The geological model has been split into two blocks, labelled “GM fault block 1” and “GM fault block 2”.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Defining the Lithologies | 181

5. Click on one of the fault blocks in the scene.

It’s a good idea to rename the fault blocks so they are more easily recognisable, and clicking on one in the
scene tells you which one you’re working with.
6. Right-click on each of the fault blocks in the project tree and rename them “East” and “West”.

Defining the Lithologies

As we have no drillhole data in the project, we need to define the lithologies for the geological model
manually.
1. Double-click on the Lithologies object for the geological model.
The Geological Model window will open with the Lithologies tab displayed.
2. Click the Add button and enter a name for the first lithology, Green.
3. Change the colour of the lithology to green.
4. Repeat for the other lithologies.

5. Click OK to close the Geological Model window.

Defining the Sedimentary Sequence for the Western Block

We will define the sedimentary sequence by building from oldest (Green) to youngest (Yellow), then we
will define the two erosional surfaces.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

182 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

1. Clear the scene.

2. Right-click on the Surface Chronology object in the West block and select New Deposit > From
Structural Data.
3. In the window that appears, change the first lithology to Pink (youngest) and the second lithology to
Green (oldest).
4. Click OK.
5. Select Existing Structural Data, then the Green_Pink_Contact structural data:

6. Click OK.
7. Add the topography and the Green_Pink_Contact structural data to the scene.
8. Drag the newly created surface into the scene.
In its current state, it is difficult to tell how well the surface reflects the mapped contact. There is an option
available for this to become more apparent.
9. Double-click on the top-level GM object ( ) to open the Geological Model window.
There is a checkbox for Exact clipping. By default this is ticked and all model surfaces (faults, contacts) are
exactly clipped to the model boundaries (the extents and topography).
10. Untick the Exact clipping box:

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Defining the Sedimentary Sequence for the Western Block | 183

The surface in the scene will regenerate and you will see it now extends a bit above the topography
surface:

Now we can see that the surface didn’t use two of the structural data points. This is because they exist
above the current topography surface, and, therefore, outside the model boundary.
11. To deal with this, right-click on the Green_Pink_Contacts in the Structural Modelling folder and select
Set Elevation.
12. In the Select surface dropdown, select the Topography surface:

13. Click OK.

The structural data will re-process and the dependent contact surface in the geological model will as well:

14. Repeat the process to create the other two surfaces using the Pink_Orange_Contact and Orange_
Yellow_Contact structural data tables.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

184 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

15. Add the new contact surfaces to the scene to confirm that they are correctly oriented.
The colour of the two sides of the surface should match the colours on the map. If they are reversed, the
younging direction has to be changed. Do this by right-clicking on the surface in the project tree and
selecting Swap Younging Side.
One of the more difficult tasks in building geological models is identifying the sides of contact surfaces,
especially in a complex environment where the geology may be overturned. Leapfrog Geo labels surfaces
as having older and younger sides, which is the “younging” direction.
16. Double-click on the Surface Chronology.
17. Make sure the contact surfaces are in the correct chronological order.
18. Enable the contact surfaces by ticking them

19. Click OK.

20. Clear the scene and add West block to the scene:

Adding an Erosion Surface from a GIS Line

Next, we will add two erosions to the model, lithologies Dark Blue and Light Blue. They will both be built
from imported GIS lines.
1. Right-click on the GIS Data, Maps and Photos folder and select Import Vector Data.
2. Navigate to the folder for this session and select the files Dark_Blue_Outline.shp and Light_Blue_
Outline_west.shp.
3. Click Open.
4. Untick the Filter Data option to ensure that all data will be imported to the project without being clipped
to a boundary.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Adding an Erosion Surface from a GIS Line | 185

5. Click OK.
6. Back in the geological model right-click on Surface Chronology for the West fault block and select New
Erosion > From GIS Vector Data.
7. Select Dark_Blue_Outline (On Topography) for the GIS Vector Data.
8. Select Dark Blue for the First Lithology.
9. Set the Second Lithology as Unknown because the overlying Dark Blue unit is in contact with several
lithologies:

10. Click OK.

11. Again right-click on Surface Chronology for the West fault block and select New Erosion > From GIS
Vector Data.
12. Select Light_Blue_Outline (On Topography) for the GIS Vector Data.
13. Select Light Blue for the First Lithology
14. Set the Second Lithology to Dark Blue as this is the only lithology unit below the Light Blue unit.

15. Click OK.

16. Activate the surfaces for both the Dark Blue and Light Blue lithologies under the Surface Chronology
object, making sure the surfaces are in the correct chronological order.
17. Click OK.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

186 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

18. Clear the scene and add the model to the scene:

Copying the Surface Chronology

While the model is now complete for the West block, the East block is still empty. However, the data to
complete the East block already exists in the project. Completing the East block is a very simple process:
1. Right-click Surface Chronology for the West block and select Copy Chronology To....
All available empty fault blocks will be listed in the Copy Contact Surfaces window.
2. Select the East block and click OK.
The surfaces will be copied to the East block and the model will be reprocessed:

Exporting a Leapfrog Model

Exporting Volumes and Surfaces
Once a geological model is created, any or all of its surfaces or volumes can be exported for use in other
projects or software. Surfaces and volumes can be exported as a several different data types.
1. View the Dark Blue output volume in the scene.
2. Right-click the Dark Blue output volume in the project tree and select Export.
The Export Mesh Parts window opens with all parts of the mesh selected. In some cases, you may not
want to export all parts of the mesh.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

 Exporting an Entire Geological Model | 187

3. To identify which mesh part is which, click on a part in the Export Mesh Parts window; the
corresponding part will be highlighted in the scene:

4. As all parts are automatically selected, deselect any parts you don’t wish to export, and then click
Export.

See File Types for a list of available mesh export file types.

Exporting an Entire Geological Model

In addition to individually exporting surfaces and volumes. you can also export an entire geological model
as a *.lfm file, which will export each surface making up the geological model in a single file. This file can
then be imported back into Leapfrog Geo under the Meshes folder.
1. Right-click on your geological model and select Export.
2. Untick the Only Output Volumes box.

© 2018 Seequent Limited

188 | Leapfrog Geo Fundamentals

By default, the Only Output Volumes checkbox is ticked. By unticking this, the surfaces making up the
geological model also become available for export:

3. At the bottom of the window, select the Format to export the model in, then choose which folder to save
the model to.
To reimport the meshes into Leapfrog, right-click on the Meshes folder and select Import Mesh. Navigate
to the saved Leapfrog model file and select Open. The meshes will be added to the Leapfrog project, and
can be viewed individually or all at once. To add all the meshes to the scene without having to drag each
one from the project tree, use the Shift key to multiselect the meshes, and drag them into the scene at the
same time.

© 2018 Seequent Limited